Senior Staff Software Engineer

Why LeoLabs?

At LeoLabs, we’re building the living map of activity in space. Through our proprietary global radar network and AI-enabled analytics platform, we collect millions of measurements daily on more than 25,000 objects in low Earth orbit (LEO). Our radar-powered intelligence protects billions in assets, monitors adversarial behavior, and ensures safe operations for commercial and government missions.

We’re not just building technology, we are redefining global security, safety, and transparency in space. As orbital activity accelerates and threats grow more complex, LeoLabs is a trusted partner for Space Domain Awareness, Space Traffic Management, and Satellite Operations for top-tier space operators and allied defense organizations.

If you're looking to work on mission-critical challenges at the forefront of aerospace, national security, and AI, your impact starts here.

LeoLabs is seeking a highly experienced and technically driven Senior Staff Software Engineer to join our cross-functional Architecture team. in this senior role, you will contribute to a collaborative, high-impact group of engineers building the software that powers real-time decisions for protecting and managing satellites and other objects in low-earth orbit. 

As a Senior Staff Engineer on the Architecture team, you will set architectural direction for our software systems, design and deliver mission-critical software, and be a leader in ensuring that our system meets our customers’ needs. You will lead architecture across multiple systems, elevate engineering standards, and guide the team in delivering reliable, secure, and high-performance solutions. 

The Architecture team is a key part of our broader software engineering organization, providing leadership on: 

• Agile practices to meet rapidly changing market requirements 
• Scalable and secure software development 
• Best practices to ensure high quality and reliability 
• Supporting our other software teams in web-based UI, backend services, integrations between systems and APIs, and interfaces with LeoLabs’ data lake. 
• Prioritizing developer experience to maximize team productivity 

We partner closely with radar operations, catalog maintenance, infrastructure and product  teams to build cohesive, powerful platform capabilities. 

What You’ll Do: 

• Lead architecture decisions for major components and cross-team integrations 
• Mentor, guide, and support other engineers through design reviews, pairing, and informal coaching 
• Collaborate with Insights, Catalog, and Platform teams to define end-to-end solutions 
• Ensure reliability, observability, security, and performance across production systems 
• Define and improve engineering practices, architecture patterns, CI/CD pipelines, and tooling 
• Own critical services through the full development lifecycle—including operation, monitoring, and on-call support 
• Evaluate and integrate new technologies and approaches to improve robustness and developer experience 
• Work directly with product and cross-functional partners to influence technical direction and roadmap planning 

 Qualifications: 

• B.S. in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent experience 
• 10+ years of professional software engineering experience, with significant time building cloud-based systems at scale 
• Demonstrated expertise designing, building, deploying, and operating distributed backend services 
• Deep proficiency in Python (required) with production experience in at least one additional language (Go, C++, or similar) 
• Strong understanding of architecture patterns, service boundaries, message-driven workflows, and API design 
• Experience with cloud environments (AWS/GCP/Azure) and containerized deployments 
• Expertise with relational databases (Postgres/MySQL) and message brokers (Kafka, SQS, or similar) 
• Strong grasp of testing strategies, observability, CI/CD practices, and reliability engineering 
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to influence technical decisions across teams 
• Comfortable participating in and guiding on-call rotations for critical systems 
• Eligibility for US security clearance 

 Preferred Qualifications: 

• Deep experience with Kubernetes including container orchestration, scaling, operational best practices, and monitoring in cloud environments. 
• Demonstrated full-stack capability with TypeScript/JavaScript and modern UI frameworks 
• Background in Math/Physics, AI/ML, or Orbital Mechanics 
• Experience operating in a high-availability or mission-critical environment 
• Active US security clearance 

What Success Looks Like 

Within 1 month, you’ll: 

• Complete onboarding and gain deep context on LeoLabs’ mission and architecture 
• Review key Insights systems and operational practices 
• Contribute initial improvements or fixes that demonstrate your technical approach and engineering standards 

Within 3 months, you’ll: 

• Own medium-sized backend features end-to-end with minimal guidance 
• Lead constructive design reviews and actively support teammates 
• Identify architectural or operational pain points and propose solutions 

Within 6 months, you’ll: 

• Take ownership of major services or system components 
• Lead implementation of complex features requiring architectural decisions 
• Improve engineering processes, tooling, or reliability practices across the team 
• Serve as a go-to technical resource for cross-functional partners 

Within 12 months, you’ll: 

• Influence strategic technical direction for the Insights team and adjacent systems 
• Drive major multi-team initiatives, integrations, or architectural evolutions 
• Mentor engineers across the organization and elevate overall engineering quality 
• Proactively identify systemic opportunities for scale, resilience, and performance improvements 

 Perks and Benefits

• Global workforce: flexible remote/hybrid opportunities
• Work on complex, meaningful missions with real-world impact
• Unlimited paid time off for most roles
• Competitive salary and equity packages
• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage
• Access to the forefront of commercial space operations and defense innovation

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identify, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.