Sr. Software Engineer, Command & Control
HybridDenver, Colorado, United States or Arvada, Colorado, United States
Denver, Colorado, United States or Arvada, Colorado, United StatesHybridFull TimeSenior LevelStartup
Full TimeSenior LevelStartup
Job Summary
Develop backend Command & Control software connecting Quindar's platform to satellite vehicles, translating spacecraft-specific interfaces into reliable, maintainable integrations. Build abstractions, tooling, and architecture to support heterogeneous constellations without rebuilding integrations from scratch. Implement machine-to-machine communication protocols involving binary serialization, framing, packetization, and stateful data transport while adhering to standards like CCSDS, CSP, and CFDP. Collaborate with a multidisciplinary team to onboard new vehicles and ensure high reliability for remote systems operating under bandwidth constraints and latency challenges. Work in a hybrid role with 2 days in Arvada, CO, Washington, D.C., or Seattle, WA.
Required Qualifications
- Proficiency in backend or systems programming languages such as Python and Rust
- Experience building software that communicates with, controls, or processes data from remote machines, embedded systems, hardware assets, or other complex systems
- Experience implementing or integrating machine-to-machine communication protocols, including concepts such as binary serialization, framing, packetization, transport, message routing, sequencing, acknowledgements, error handling, and state management
- Experience with real-time or embedded software, distributed systems, networking, telecommunications, robotics, IoT, industrial systems, or hardware/software integration
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience
- 3+ years of professional experience developing software for satellite command and control, telecommunications, networking, robotics, embedded systems, industrial automation, IoT, defense systems, or similarly complex machine-to-machine / hardware-software systems
- Demonstrated experience taking a protocol, interface specification, or hardware integration from documentation through implementation, testing, troubleshooting, and production operation
Desired Qualifications
- Direct experience with these standards [CCSDS, CSP, CFDP, XTCE, MIB]
- Experience with satellite communication standards such as CCSDS, CSP, CFDP, and IP
- Experience implementing comparable protocols or communication standards in another industry
- Familiarity with structured command, telemetry, or interface definitions such as XTCE and MIB
- Experience with analogous schemas, IDLs, protocol definitions, message catalogs, or data models from other industries
- Understanding of the challenges associated with reliable communication to remote or intermittently connected systems, including bandwidth constraints, latency, retries, fault handling, and observability
- Understanding and experience integrating encryption algorithms such as AES-256 GCM, AES-256 CFB, AES-256 ECB, NSA Type 1 PEGASUS, and NSA Type 1 CARIBOU
- Experience with Kubernetes platforms and DevSecOps practices, particularly collaboration between software development and platform engineering teams
- Experience with relational and/or time-series databases
- Familiarity with Git and GitHub or similar version-control workflows
- Experience working with or contributing to open-source software
- Strong technical analysis, systems thinking, and troubleshooting skills
- Highly adaptable; you will integrate a wide variety of missions into Quindar's software and will need to quickly understand unfamiliar interfaces, protocols, hardware, and operational constraints
- Ability to recognize common abstractions across different systems and protocols rather than treating every integration as a one-off implementation
- Foresight for designing C2 systems that can scale across many vehicles, protocols, and missions
- Independent self-starter who can take ownership of technically ambiguous integration problems and drive them to completion
- A high standard for software maintainability, quality, resilience, observability, and performance
- Strong cross-functional communication skills and the ability to distill complex technical information for both internal and customer-facing audiences
- Curiosity and willingness to learn the aerospace domain; we value engineers who can bring lessons from other industries and rapidly develop expertise in spacecraft operations
- Prior aerospace experience is not required. Candidates with strong systems and communications experience in adjacent industries who are interested in learning spacecraft C2 are encouraged to apply.
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