Staff Ground Software Engineer Verified today
Turion is building vertically integrated hardware and software for space economy infrastructure. DROID is our line of space vehicles; Starfire is our software suite for simulation, modeling, planning, and operations.
The Role
As Staff Ground Software Engineer, you will architect, automate, and operate the mission-critical infrastructure powering Turion's spacecraft operations. You will ensure ground systems are highly available, observable, secure, and scalable, enabling operators to command satellites, process high-volume downlinks, and respond quickly to on-orbit events.
You will work across the full software and infrastructure lifecycle, influencing architectural decisions, developing core platform services, improving reliability, and driving engineering best practices.
What You'll Build
- Core components of a scalable, cloud-native platform for spacecraft operations
- Automated deployment and operational tooling for satellite fleets
- Reusable infrastructure modules and shared platform capabilities
- Observability, telemetry, and alerting systems for real-time operations
Key Responsibilities
- Design, automate, and operate the infrastructure enabling spacecraft operations
- Define architectural direction for mission-critical systems, including autonomy, data pipelines, and real-time processing
- Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines, deployment frameworks, and environment-level automation
- Establish and uphold reliability and performance standards across ground systems
- Lead and participate in on-call rotations for high-availability production environments
- Partner with mission operators to turn operational needs into reliable services and tools
- Drive engineering excellence through documentation, reviews, and technical mentorship
- Improve the accessibility, efficiency, and reliability of satellite operations at scale
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or equivalent experience
- 8+ years of software or infrastructure engineering experience, including ownership of major components or services
- Strong experience with distributed systems
- Expertise with cloud-native and container-based architectures
- Deep Kubernetes experience (design, operation, and tuning)
- Significant experience operating live, customer-facing, cloud-hosted systems
- Demonstrated leadership in on-call for high-availability environments
- Must be able to obtain and maintain a TS/SCI clearance
Preferred Qualifications
- Proficiency in Go
- Expertise in multiple cloud stacks (e.g. AWS + Azure)
- Experience with real-time data processing or data engineering pipelines
- Proficiency in database administration
- Interest in space systems and mission operations
Compensation and Benefits
Salary Range: $175,000 - $225,000 USD
- Equity in Turion Space
- Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage
- 401(k) plan with 3% Employer Direct Contribution
- Paid vacation, personal days, sick days, and holidays
- Paid parental leave
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
- Professional development opportunities
- Team building activities
Employment Details
Full-time, exempt position based on-site in Irvine, California. Employees may be asked to support alternate shifts, extended shifts, and/or travel during peak work periods.
ITAR Requirements
This position may include access to technology and/or software source code subject to U.S. export controls. Applicant must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. lawful permanent resident (green card holder), Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.