Blacksky

Blacksky

Senior Software Engineer, Ground & Control Services

Seattle, WA; Herndon, VA; Remote · Senior · Full-time

Work authorization required$10k-$15kDetected 19 days ago
PythonGoC++Code ReviewGitAWSAzureCloud PlatformsKubernetesTerraformAnsibleCI/CDCybersecurityControlsTest AutomationCommunicationCollaborationProblem Solving

About the role

  • 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.
  • This includes high-speed tasking, ground and space telemetry, health monitoring, and low-latency communication with ground stations worldwide.
  • You understand the importance of safety, precision, and testability, especially in autonomous systems where small errors can have big consequences.

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.
  • Participate in design reviews, code reviews, and team planning discussions.
  • Support on-call rotations and troubleshooting of live system operations as needed.

Requirements

  • Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
  • A minimum of six (6) years of professional software development experience.
  • Proficiency in one or more programming languages (e.g. Go, Python, C++).
  • 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.
  • Anticipated 10-15% travel required to customer site.

Nice to have

  • Master's degree (or higher) in a related technical field.
  • At least eight 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.
  • Prior experience with satellite operations, ground stations, or others aerospace-related domains (e.g. X-Band, UHF, or telemetry).
  • Active secret or higher U.S. security clearance.
  • 401(k) pre-tax and Roth deferral options with employer match

Compensation

  • The anticipated salary range for candidates in Seattle, WA is $140,000-160,000 per year.

Benefits

  • 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
  • Flexible Spending Accounts
  • Employee Stock Purchase Program
  • The final compensation package offered to a successful candidate will be dependent on specific background and education.
  • Write clean, maintainable code with strong emphasis on safety, test coverage, and reliability.

Company info

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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'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 locations listed in the job posting are ideal, we would love candidates near Seattle, WA office.
  • We may also consider remote candidates in certain states.

Equal opportunity

  • https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/eeopost.pdf
  • https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/OFCCP_EEO_Supplement_Final_JRF_QA_508c.pdf

Visa & Work Authorization

  • Some of the programs this role supports may require being a US-citizen
Apply directly at Blacksky →Create a free account for alerts like thisView Blacksky immigration profile

This listing is sourced directly from Blacksky's careers page and normalized into a canonical job model.