Onboard Software Solutions Engineer

Wanna join the adventure?

Loft Orbital is looking for a Software Engineer in Test to join our Onboard Software Solutions team.

About the Team:

The Onboard Software Solutions Team is responsible for creating, configuring, and deploying all onboard software components dedicated to a program or mission. We configure and extend agnostic onboard software to fit a given satellite architecture and requirements and are responsible for the development, end to end testing and releasing of that onboard software.

This is an exciting opportunity to work on cutting edge technology, helping build modern automated infrastructure, bringing software and space together. As well as developing our future systems, the role will also be working on real-time issues on live missions, helping to solve problems as they occur. On top of this we also offer SatDevOps training to enable this person to actually operate our spacecraft

About the Role:

• Streamline the creation, integration, validation, and release of onboard software by improving test coverage, automating testing, and minimizing time from feature development to availability on-orbit.
• Configure standard onboard software components for customers payloads and support the deployment and troubleshooting internally and externally
• Own and evolve the tools for onboard software creation, versioning, testing, and release management while providing transparent, up-to-date status tracking for all stakeholders across programs and missions.
• Collaborate closely with Onboard Software Product teams, System Engineers, and Ground Software Solutions teams to ensure the rapid, reliable, and thoroughly tested deployment of onboard software for customers.
• Participate actively in Satellite Operations and support Spacecraft Commissioning - Everyone is involved

Must Haves:

• Proven experience as a software engineer, software integration engineer, or a similar role focused on automated testing.
• 4+ years of software development experience in Python and C++
• Hands-on experience designing and implementing automated testing frameworks and CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitLab-CI, TeamCity, Travis CI)
• Familiarity with data serialization/deserialization paradigms (YAML, JSON, CUE) in complex software systems.
• Familiarity with data serialization/deserialization paradigms (YAML, JSON, CUE) in complex software systems.
• Strong troubleshooting, communication and collaboration skills; comfortable working at the intersection of software, systems, and operations.
• Willingness to be involved in live mission ops, spacecraft commissioning and on-orbit issues — responsive, reliable and solution-oriented.

Nice to Haves:

• Experience in Embedded Linux, real-time software or flight software environments.
• Familiarity with build systems (Make, CMake) and networking (UDP, TCP, IP).
• Prior experience in satellite operations, avionics, or in-orbit mission support.

Some of Our Awesome Benefits:

• Equity, we want you to have an active role in our success
• Up to 35 days of Paid Time Off (vacations & RTT ) and flexible working hours, we want you to be at your best
• Health and life insurance, we care about your health
• Lunch Vouchers, because let's be honest, we love food (we even have a slack channel about it #loft-gourmand)
• Cross-office travel opportunities between San Francisco, Colorado, and Toulouse to learn from our differences
• Company and team off-sites and many other events to work & celebrate together
• Relocation assistance to Toulouse when applicable

$120,000 - $170,000 a year State law requires us to tell you the base compensation range for this role, which is $120,000- $150,000 per year in Colorado/San Francisco. This is determined by your education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities.  The salary range for this role is intentionally wide as we evaluate individuals based on their unique experience and abilities to fit our needs. Most importantly, we are excited to meet you, and see if you are a great fit for our team. What we can't quantify for you are the exciting challenges, supportive team, and amazing culture we enjoy.

 *Research shows that while men apply to jobs where they meet an average of 60% of the criteria, women and other underrepresented people tend to only apply when they meet 100% of the qualifications. At Loft, we value respectful debate and people who aren't afraid to challenge assumptions.  We strongly encourage you to apply, even if you don't check all the boxes.

Who We Are

Loft: Space Made Simple. 

Founded in 2017, Loft provides governments, companies, and research institutions with a fast, reliable, and flexible way to deploy missions in orbit. 

We integrate, launch, and operate spacecraft, offering end-to-end missions as a service across Earth observation, IoT connectivity, in-orbit demonstrations, national security missions, and more. Leveraging our existing space infrastructure and an extensive inventory of satellite buses, Loft is reducing years-long integration and launch timelines to months. With more than 25 missions flown, Loft's flight heritage and proven technologies enable customers to focus on their mission objectives. 

At Loft, you'll be given the autonomy and ownership to solve significant challenges, but with a close-knit and supportive team at your back. We believe that diversity and community are the foundation of an open culture. We are committed to hiring the best people regardless of background and make their time at Loft the most fulfilling period of their career.

We value kind, supportive and team-oriented collaborators. It is also crucial for us that you are a problem solver and a great communicator. As our team is international, you will need strong English skills to better collaborate, easily communicate complex ideas and convey important messages.

With 4 satellites on-orbit and a wave of exciting missions launching soon, we are scaling up quickly across our offices in San Francisco, CA | Golden, CO | and Toulouse, France.

As an international company your resume will be reviewed by people across our offices so please attach a copy in English.

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