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Senior Software Engineer - Vehicle Test

Astranis - San Francisco, CA, United States - In-office - posted 2026-09-17

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Salary: USD 150,000 - 215,000 / annual

Astranis builds advanced satellites for high orbits, providing dedicated, secure networks to large enterprises, sovereign governments, and the US military. The company has five satellites on orbit with a backlog exceeding $1 billion in commercial contracts and employs 450 engineers. You will design end-to-end software architecture for hardware validation at integrated vehicle levels and support HITL (hardware-in-the-loop) testbed infrastructure for flight validation. Your testing infrastructure will ensure aerospace systems are mission-ready before launch. Key responsibilities: - Design high-level software architecture supporting vehicle integration and test operations - Coordinate across multiple teams to create software testing infrastructure based on testing and production needs - Integrate flight software with ground software teams into test infrastructure - Design scalable, reusable test code across multiple testing campaigns and vehicle generations - Refine electrical engineering specifications to validate critical flight components - Support all development phases from proposal through successful test and flight - Guide large test campaigns by creating necessary tools, delegating, and mentoring junior engineers - Assist in recruiting, interviewing, and hiring team members - Participate in rotating on-call shifts to troubleshoot and resolve flight and production issues You will work directly in the lab identifying and fixing complex issues in real-time, gaining unique insight into the entire hardware lifecycle while partnering with nearly every engineering team. This role supports both commercial and U.S. Government programs. REQUIREMENTS: - Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent background knowledge - 5+ years of relevant professional experience - Strong proficiency in Python or other high-level object-oriented scripting languages - Experience designing software systems and test architectures, tooling, and frameworks - Experience with Linux and shell command line tools - Passion for building things in fast-paced environments with hands-on design and development - Excellent written and verbal communication skills BONUS: - Experience with relational or time series databases - Embedded systems experience - Experience mentoring junior engineers U.S. Citizenship, Lawful Permanent Residency, or Refugee/Asylee Status Required (to comply with U.S. Government space technology export regulations).

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