Design, implement, test, review, and maintain reliable onboard software for satellite core services, including file transfer, synchronization, automation, scheduling, attitude control, and navigation. Contribute to software architecture, development standards, continuous integration, release coordination, and operation of Loft’s on-orbit satellite fleet.
Wanna join the adventure?
Loft’s Onboard Software group provides the on-orbit software that powers our core products. This is responsible for monitoring and control of major space program elements, including:
Flight Products computational environments (including physical and virtual processors);
Interfaces with external equipment (imagers, RF, ISL); and
Interfaces with the spacecraft bus.
The Core Services team is responsible for high-level vehicle services and functions, including file transfer, time synchronization, automation, scheduling, attitude control, and navigation. Many of these services are reused across all satellite programs and form the foundation of our onboard architecture.
About this role:
- Design, implement, and refine software with a high degree of ownership, driving impactful features from concept through delivery while ensuring robustness and reliability.
- Review code, provide clear feedback, and enforce adherence to established development processes, style guides, and design standards to maintain consistency and quality across the codebase.
- Design and implement unit tests for both self-authored and peer-authored code.
- Utilize version control systems to create feature branches, push code, and merge approved code into production branches.
- Contribute to the onboard software architecture through design proposals and collaborative review
- Participate in the review and enhancement of software development processes and design standards.
- Coordinate with downstream teams on the release, distribution and adoption of latest releases.
- In addition to responsibilities within onboard software, you’ll have the opportunity to directly be involved in operating our on-orbit fleet of satellites.
Must Haves:
- 2+ years software engineering experience, using programming languages including C/C++ (C++11 or newer) and Python.
- Experience with version control systems such as Git
- Experience with continuous integration tools (e.g., GitLab-CI, Jenkins).
- Experience with build systems (e.g., Make, CMake).
- Understanding of distributed architecture.
- Familiarity with networking protocols (e.g., UDP, TCP, IP) and POSIX standards.
- Experience in developing multi-threaded applications.
Nice to Haves:
- Familiarity with additional programming languages, such as Go or Rust.
- Experience with embedded Linux operation, including Yocto, device trees, systemd, and Linux on ARM platforms.
- Proficiency with unit test frameworks (e.g., pytest, Googletest, Unity) and keyword-driven test frameworks (e.g., Robot, Cucumber).
- Experience with middleware framework (gRPC, ZMQ/NATS, etc.)
- Experience with containerization technologies (Docker, K3S, systemd-nspawn)
Some of Our Awesome Benefits:
- 100% company-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance option for employees and dependents
- Flexible Spending (FSA) and Health Savings (HSA) Accounts offered with an employer contribution to the HSA
- 100% employer paid Life, AD&D, Short-Term, and Long-Term Disability insurance
- Flexible Time Off policy for vacation and sick leave, and 12 paid holidays
- 401(k) plan and equity options
- Daily catered lunches and snacks
- International exposure to our team in France
- Fully paid parental leave; 14 weeks for primary caregiver and 10 weeks for secondary caregiver
- Carrot Fertility provides comprehensive, inclusive fertility healthcare and family-forming benefits with financial support
- Off-sites and many social events and celebrations
- Relocation assistance when applicable
*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 simple 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, on-orbit AI, 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 30 missions flown, Loft’s flight heritage and proven technologies enable customers to focus on their mission objectives.
With a growing fleet on track to reach 30 satellites by 2027, we are scaling up quickly across our offices in San Francisco, CA | Golden, CO | and Toulouse, France to meet accelerating demand for space infrastructure.
As an international company your resume will be reviewed by people across our offices so please attach a copy in English.
Loft Orbital San Francisco, California, USA Office
715 Bryant St. , San Francisco, CA, United States, 94117
Similar Jobs
Fintech • Machine Learning • Payments • Software • Financial Services
Develop and deploy foundational AI systems, including foundation model training, LLM inference, agentic workflows, similarity search, guardrails, evaluation, governance, and observability. Optimize large-scale AI systems for cost, latency, throughput, scalability, and reliability. Own complex AI architecture, define reliability objectives, improve GPU/TPU utilization, lead technical reviews, ensure security and compliance, and mentor engineering colleagues.
Top Skills:
AWSAws UltraclustersAzureC#C++CudaFoundation ModelsGoGoGCPGpuHugging FaceJavaLarge Language ModelsPythonPyTorchScalaTpuVectordbs
Fintech • Machine Learning • Payments • Software • Financial Services
Lead moderate to large strategic projects and programs, establishing plans, governance, documentation, risk management, and delivery frameworks. Partner with cross-functional stakeholders, align execution with business goals, solve complex problems, and communicate with leaders across the organization. The role also includes mentoring and developing team members, adapting requirements in a fast-paced environment, and managing project scope and timelines.
Top Skills:
JIRA
Fintech • Machine Learning • Payments • Software • Financial Services
Leads complex technical programs involving Generative AI, distributed systems, enterprise platforms, and cloud services. Establishes program roadmaps, operating mechanisms, maturity models, and measurable outcomes; coordinates architecture, dependencies, investment planning, and delivery across engineering teams. Acts as an executive escalation point, drives tradeoffs among speed, cost, and resiliency, and develops the organization’s TPM discipline through standards, tooling, metrics, and leadership influence.
Top Skills:
Agentic Ai ArchitecturesAgileAWSCloud ComputingDistributed ComputingDistributed SystemsGenerative AiInference OptimizationModel Fine-TuningModel PretrainingMulti-Agent Conversational SystemsService-Oriented Architecture
What you need to know about the San Francisco Tech Scene
San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area attracts more startup funding than any other region in the world. Home to Stanford University and UC Berkeley, leading VC firms and several of the world’s most valuable companies, the Bay Area is the place to go for anyone looking to make it big in the tech industry. That said, San Francisco has a lot to offer beyond technology thanks to a thriving art and music scene, excellent food and a short drive to several of the country’s most beautiful recreational areas.
Key Facts About San Francisco Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 365,500; 13.9% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: Google, Apple, Salesforce, Meta
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, fintech, consumer technology, software
- Funding Landscape: $50.5 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, Greylock Partners, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins
- Research Centers and Universities: Stanford University; University of California, Berkeley; University of San Francisco; Santa Clara University; Ames Research Center; Center for AI Safety; California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
