Sr. Software Engineer - Space Domain Awareness

Our work centers on R&D environments that process physical measurement data from sensors, including imagery, signals, and other sensor modalities-in support of critical national security missions.

This is not a commercial web application role: We are building big data mission-critical systems for our customers, and the candidate should be ready to solve any problem necessary to support the mission.

The ideal candidate will have outstanding leadership abilities and have years of experience managing and working in teams of engineers and scientists; able to work with little supervision. This position requires verbal communication and presentation skills that can captivate and lead team to mission success.

This position requires a highly experienced engineer with a minimum of 15+ years and a Master of Science degree in Computer Science or a related engineering field. This person is someone who combines strong software engineering expertise with the ability to design and operate end-to-end computing environments. You will design and implement Python-based applications and distributed pipelines, manage Kubernetes/containerized deployments, and support scientific applications of HPC. You should be capable of taking customer requirements and delivering solutions from hardware procurement and system build-out through software development and deployment.

This position is hybrid on-site in Albuquerque, NM, working closely with scientists, engineers, and operators on mission-critical SDA data systems.

Responsibilities:

Software Development

• Develop advanced applications and services in Python (required) for HPC environments.
• Build and extend web-based tools using Django or alternate frameworks for APIs, visualization, and analyst workflows.
• Implement algorithms for image and signal processing, geolocation, and data fusion.
• Support scientific computing workloads in high-performance environments.

Infrastructure & DevOps

• Design and manage Kubernetes clusters (RKE2/K3s) using Rancher orchestration.
• Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines with GitLab, Docker, Kaniko, and container registries.
• Manage distributed task systems (Celery, Django-Q2, Redis, Memcached).
• Ensure scalable, containerized deployments across hybrid host and cloud environments.

Systems Engineering & Administration

• Procure, configure, and integrate computer hardware, networking, and storage systems.
• Administer Linux servers and supporting services (DNS, DHCP, NFS, SMB).
• Manage PostgreSQL databases and storage to support distributed SDA workflows.
• Ensure performance, scalability, and uptime for mission systems.

Required Qualifications

• U.S. Citizen with active DoD Secret clearance (required).
• Master's degree (minimum) in Computer Science, Engineering, or related technical field.
• 15+ years of professional software development and systems engineering experience.
• Strong proficiency in Python (required); experience with Django or other web frameworks preferred.
• Hands-on experience with Kubernetes, containerization, and DevOps toolchains.
• Strong systems engineering background across software, networking, and HPC infrastructure.
• Proven experience with scientific computing and HPC applications.
• Ability to procure, configure, and build computing systems from hardware through deployment.

Desired Qualifications

• TS/SCI or DOE Q clearance desired.
• Experience with PostgreSQL administration and distributed storage.
• Background in sensor data processing (imagery, signals, geolocation).
• Familiarity with C and Bash scripting in production environments.
• Experience supporting Air Force, Space Force, or Intelligence Community missions.

Salary Range: 160,000 - 220,000

The pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Determination of official compensation or salary relies on several factors including, but not limited to, level of position, job responsibilities, geographic location, scope of relevant work experience, educational background, certifications, contract-specific affordability, organizational requirements, alignment with local internal equity as well as alignment with market data.

Our compensation package also includes components designed to support employees' total well-being, which should be considered when evaluating our competitive benefits package. These benefits include health insurance, life insurance, disability, company holiday and paid time off, parental leave, 401(k) company match and contributions, professional development/training reimbursements, and other work/life programs.