Principal Orbit Operations Engineer
Reflect Orbital2 months ago
Hawthorne, CA, USAStaff+
Base Salary
$110k - $185k/yr
Responsibilities
- Define the ground segment architecture and technical roadmap across command and telemetry, ground station networking, data infrastructure, and automation.
- Make build, buy, and extend decisions for command and control infrastructure, mission planning, fleet management, ground networks, and GSaaS providers.
- Design automated contact scheduling, fleet-wide telemetry and alerting, and routine operations for constellation scale.
- Define engineering practices across the ground/flight boundary, including interface documentation, simulation, and hardware-in-the-loop test infrastructure.
- Lead ground segment work through launch campaigns, commissioning, sustained operations, and major anomalies.
- Build link protection, key management, and access control into the ground segment.
- Improve the reliability and observability of mission-critical ground systems.
- Write, deploy, operate, and troubleshoot software spanning software, networks, and hardware.
- Mentor engineers, review designs and code, make architectural decisions, and support hiring for the ground software team.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field, or equivalent experience.
- 10+ years of experience developing ground systems software, including services, APIs, and applications.
- Experience setting technical direction for a ground segment or comparable real-time infrastructure.
- Experience taking satellites or a comparable hardware fleet through launch, commissioning, and sustained operations.
- Experience deploying and operating software on AWS, including container orchestration with Kubernetes and CI/CD systems.
- Strong understanding of networking protocols, routing, VPNs, and secure connectivity.
- Knowledge of satellite ground systems, including ground station networking, antenna interfaces, and RF subsystems.
- Experience building services around relational or time-series databases and real-time data.
- Strong programming and scripting skills in Python, C++, and/or Rust.
- Familiarity with Linux environments and command-line tools.
- Experience building software for multi-satellite constellation operations is preferred.
- Candidates do not need to meet 100% of the listed qualifications, and unconventional backgrounds are welcomed.
Benefits
- Medical, dental, and vision coverage with 100% of each base policy covered by Reflect.
- Access to HSA, FSA, and 401K plans.
- Unlimited paid time off, with two weeks per year encouraged.
- Healthy lunches provided daily.
About Reflect Orbital
Reflect Orbital builds satellite-based systems to deliver and store sunlight so solar farms and urban lighting can operate after dark. The privately held company, founded in 2021 and headquartered in Los Angeles, is developing a flying constellation intended to provide continuous solar energy services. It sells delivered sunlight and related services to energy producers and infrastructure operators.