Software Engineer - Space Infrastructure

As a Space Infrastructure Software Engineer, you are responsible for scaling our ability to operate a heterogeneous fleet of satellites--spanning dedicated, rideshare, and constellation missions. You will work at the intersection of automated satellite operations, ground and flight software, and solving on-orbit problems.

The team is responsible for ensuring the reliable, efficient, and standardized operation of Loft’s space infrastructure. Within the operational fleet of Loft satellites, the team is responsible for the stability of the satellite bus, the Hub, and Loft-owned payloads as a platform to execute customer missions.

Loft’s business and its customer’s businesses are built on the reliability of its space infrastructure. This team’s work is foundational for that model, and gives you a wide latitude to work on different systems, ranging from code that interacts with and uses Cockpit, our mission control system, to code that executes onboard our satellites. It will also give you the opportunity to become a Flight Director, responsible for the health and safety of our fleet.

• Develop and maintain the software systems that autonomously operate our satellites, improving the reliability and scalability of our space infrastructure.
• Build tools, systems, and software libraries to enable other teams to integrate and operate effectively on Loft’s satellite platform.
• Scale our satellite operations software to support an increasingly heterogeneous and growing fleet.
• Partner with product teams to drive continuous improvements based on operational and integration feedback.
• Contribute to and maintain SatDevOps Academy, our internal training program for company-wide satellite operations readiness.
• Serve as a rotating Flight Director, overseeing incident response and ensuring the health and safety of the fleet.

• Proven experience developing software, with solid skills in automation.
• Ability to work across the full software and hardware stack—including ground-based automation, space-based automation, and the interfaces that connect them.
• Proficiency in Python and Git.
• Willingness and enthusiasm to be trained as a satellite controller and Flight Director (including participation in the on-call rotation).
• Pragmatic mindset: able to balance long-term reliability with short- and medium-term solutions.
• Accountability and autonomy; comfortable taking ownership and delivering results.
• Openness to learning, working outside your comfort zone, and tackling unfamiliar challenges.

• 3+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• Familiarity or experience with Docker, Lua, Linux, CI/CD pipelines, test engineering, or reliability engineering.
• Hands-on experience as a satellite operator.