Staff SW Engineer, Ground & Control Services New Seattle, WA; Herndon, VA; Remote

About this role

Staff Software Engineer, Ground & Control Services

BlackSky is a real-time intelligence company. We own and operate the world's most advanced space-based intelligence platform and provide customers satellite imagery, automated analytics and high-frequency monitoring of strategic locations, economic assets and events from around the globe. BlackSky is trusted by the most demanding allied military and intelligence organizations and commercial companies to deliver foresight into critical matters that affect national security and the economy. BlackSky's data enables governments and businesses to see, understand and anticipate change as it happens, giving them the ultimate strategic advantage so they can act quickly. Our global team works with cutting-edge technology to make a difference around the world and prides itself on being people-first, customer-focused and fun.

The Ground & Control team is looking for a passionate and driven Software Engineer to join our team, the group responsible for building the autonomous software that controls and monitors BlackSky's satellite constellation. This includes high-speed tasking, ground and space telemetry, health monitoring, and low-latency communication with ground stations worldwide. In this role, you'll develop software that bridges the gap between hardware-level interfaces and cloud-deployed microservices. You'll contribute to mission-critical systems that keep our satellites safe, responsive, and efficient; operating 24/7 with minimal human intervention.

Success in this role means having a strong sense of initiative and ownership, a deep curiosity for how complex systems work, and the discipline to trace and validate requirements while thoughtfully challenging them when needed. You understand the importance of safety, precision, and testability, especially in autonomous systems where small errors can have big consequences. You're comfortable applying modern software development practices and navigating both low-level and cloud-based technologies. Most importantly, you know how to collaborate in a team environment, communicate clearly, and contribute to a shared mission with humility and focus.

While the role can be done remotely, we would love candidates near Seattle, WA office. This role reports to the Manager, Ground and Control Services.

Responsibilities:

• Design, implement, and maintain software that enables autonomous satellite operations and real-time tasking.
• Develop and integrate services that interface with ground station infrastructure and satellite communication protocols.
• Build software solutions to support satellite tasking and monitoring.
• Collaborate with operations, communication engineers, flight software engineers, mission planning engineers, and other software teams to understand and refine technical requirements.
• Write clean, maintainable code with strong emphasis on safety, test coverage, and reliability.
• Participate in design reviews, code reviews, and team planning discussions.
• Support on-call rotations and troubleshooting of live system operations as needed.
• Anticipated 10-15% travel required to support launch operations.
• Other job-related duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• A minimum of ten (10) years of professional software development experience.
• Proficiency in one or more programming languages (e.g. Go, Python, C++).
• Experience developing and deploying microservices in both cloud environments (e.g. AWS, GCS, Azure) and on-premise Kubernetes-based environments.
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and modern version control systems (e.g. Git).
• Strong problem-solving skills and an ability to understand complex systems end to end.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills in a cross-functional team environment.
• Prior experience with satellite operations, ground stations, or others aerospace-related domains (e.g. X-Band, UHF, or telemetry).
• The program this role supports requires being a US-citizen.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's degree (or higher) in a related technical field.
• Over 12 years of professional software development experience.
• Exposure to infrastructure-as-code tools (e.g. Terraform, Ansible) and container orchestration (e.g. Kubernetes, Nomad).
• Understanding of system safety, fault tolerance, and recovery strategies.
• Comfort working in high-availability, mission-critical software environments.

Life at BlackSky for full-time benefits-eligible employees includes:

• Medical, dental, vision, disability, group term life and AD&D, voluntary life and AD&D insurance
• BlackSky pays 100% of employee-only premiums for medical, dental and vision and contributes $100/month for out-of-pocket expenses!
• 15 days of PTO, 11 Company holidays, four Floating Holidays (pro-rated based on hire date), one day of paid volunteerism leave per year, parental leave and more
• 401(k) pre-tax and Roth deferral options with employer match
• Flexible Spending Accounts
• Employee Stock Purchase Program
• Employee Assistance and Travel Assistance Programs
• Employer matching donations
• Professional development
• Awesome swag

The anticipated salary range for candidates in Seattle, WA is $155,000-180,000 per year. The final compensation package offered to a successful candidate will be dependent on specific background and education. BlackSky is a multi-state employer, and this pay scale may not reflect salary ranges in other states or locations outside of Seattle, WA.

BlackSky is committed to hiring and retaining a diverse workforce. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity. All Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law.

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

EEO/ Pay Transparency Statements:

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Please select from the drop which of these areas you have experience in: satellite operations, ground stations, or others aerospace-related domains (e.g. X-Band, UHF, or telemetry) \*

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving