Ground and Control Services, Software Engineering Manager

• Lead, mentor, and grow the Ground & Control Services engineering team responsible for autonomous satellite operations, real‑time tasking, and ground‑to‑space communications.
• Work with leadership to drive prioritization and planning across GCS projects with dynamically changing commercial and program objectives, ensuring engineering efforts stay aligned with business goals, customer commitments, and mission operations.
• Partner with operations, communication engineering, flight software, mission planning, product, and program leadership to clarify requirements, align priorities, and maintain a strong end‑to‑end understanding of system behavior.
• Provide technical direction and architectural guidance for systems interfacing with ground stations, satellite communication protocols, and mission‑critical operational workflows.
• Establish and continuously improve engineering processes including design reviews, code reviews, testing practices, system safety considerations, and operational readiness.
• Foster a healthy on-call culture and ensure effective support of live operational systems, including incident response, root‑cause analysis, and long-term corrective actions.
• Drive roadmap planning, resource allocation, and execution across multiple projects, balancing rapid iteration with long‑term reliability and availability.
• Hire, onboard, coach, and evaluate engineers, emphasizing skill development, collaboration, and accountability.
• Perform other leadership tasks as required to ensure the success of the team and mission.
• Other responsibilities as assigned.

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• A minimum of eight (8) years of professional experience in software engineering, including experience building or operating complex distributed, autonomous, or mission‑critical systems.
• At least two (2) years of experience leading engineering teams as a people manager or technical lead with formal leadership responsibilities.
• Strong technical background in one or more programming languages (e.g., Go, Python, C++), with the ability to provide architectural guidance and review complex designs.
• Experience developing and deploying microservices in cloud environments (e.g., AWS, GCP, Azure) and on-premises Kubernetes‑based systems.
• Solid understanding of CI/CD pipelines, automated testing strategies, version control, and operational best practices.
• Demonstrated ability to manage priorities, coordinate across teams, and deliver results in fast-paced environments with operational dependencies.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and conflict‑resolution skills, especially in cross‑functional settings.
• Some programs this role supports may require the candidate to be a U.S. citizen.

• Master’s degree (or higher) in a relevant technical field.
• Ten or more years of professional engineering experience, including leadership of teams responsible for high-availability or mission-critical software.
• Experience managing teams working with infrastructure‑as‑code tools (e.g., Terraform, Ansible), container orchestration (e.g., Kubernetes, Nomad), or distributed systems.
• Knowledge of system safety, fault tolerance, redundancy, and recovery strategies in autonomous or operationally sensitive environments.
• Background in satellite operations, ground stations, or aerospace domains (e.g., X‑Band, UHF, telemetry), or experience supporting secure customer programs.
• Prior experience aligning engineering execution with both commercial production SLAs and program‑specific requirements, deliverables, or milestones.

Life at BlackSky for full-time benefits-eligible employees includes:

• Medical, dental, vision, disability, group term life and AD&D, voluntary life and AD&D insurance BlackSky pays 100% of employee-only premiums for medical, dental and vision and contributes $100/month for out-of-pocket expenses!
• BlackSky pays 100% of employee-only premiums for medical, dental and vision and contributes $100/month for out-of-pocket expenses!
• 15 days of PTO, 11 Company holidays, four Floating Holidays (pro-rated based on hire date), one day of paid volunteerism leave per year, parental leave and more
• 401(k) pre-tax and Roth deferral options with employer match

• Employee Assistance and Travel Assistance Programs
• Employer matching donations
• Professional development
• Mac or PC? Your choice!
• Awesome swag

The anticipated salary range for candidates in Seattle, WA is $165,000-205,000 per year.

The final compensation package offered to a successful candidate will be dependent on specific background and education.

BlackSky is a multi-state employer, and this pay scale may not reflect salary ranges in other states or locations outside of Seattle, WA.

BlackSky is committed to hiring and retaining a diverse workforce. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer All Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law.

To conform to U.S.

Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S.

of State.

EEO/AAP/ Pay Transparency Statements: https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/eeopost.pdf https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/OFCCP_EEO_Supplement_Final_JRF_QA_508c.pdf