Onboard Software Engineer - Deployment & Runtime Environments

The role

You will build and maintain the software that runs on Loft's satellites, including the tool that assembles mission software stacks and the container environment that runs customer workloads in orbit. You will also help validate software before it goes to orbit.

What you will do

• Contribute to and evolve the bundle management tool that resolves package dependencies and assembles mission software stacks
• Develop and harden onboard Linux infrastructure, including service deployment on the rootfs and service management
• Evolve the Runtime Container Environment, including the container manager, base images and container registry service
• Support scaling of the deployment pipeline as new hardware platforms and satellite programs are added
• Contribute to Product Validation, the final step before software goes to orbit
• Drive features from concept through delivery with a high degree of ownership
• Take part in code reviews, design proposals and development process improvements

Required qualifications

• Strong understanding of containerization technologies such as Docker, Kubernetes or similar runtimes
• Deep Linux system knowledge: boot process, service management, filesystem layout and failure recovery
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines such as GitLab-CI, Jenkins or similar
• Proficiency with Git and collaborative development workflows
• Experience with embedded or resource-constrained systems
• Working knowledge of Python

Nice to have

• Understanding of deployment strategies for critical or hard-to-reach systems, such as OTA updates, golden images, A/B partitions, staged rollouts and safe rollback
• C++ knowledge
• Experience with CUE (cuelang)
• Familiarity with other languages such as Go or Rust
• Experience with embedded Linux: Yocto, device trees, systemd and Linux on ARM
• Proficiency with unit test frameworks such as pytest, Googletest or Unity
• Experience with middleware frameworks such as gRPC or ZMQ/NATS

Benefits

• Equity
• Up to 35 days of paid time off (vacations and RTT) and flexible working hours
• Health and life insurance
• Lunch vouchers
• Cross-office travel opportunities between San Francisco, Colorado and Toulouse
• Company and team off-sites and events
• Relocation assistance to Toulouse when applicable

Before you apply

• Your resume will be reviewed by people across offices, so attach a copy in English
• The company encourages applying even if you do not meet every listed qualification

About the company

Loft provides governments, companies and research institutions with a way to deploy missions in orbit, offering end-to-end missions as a service. Founded in 2017, it operates offices in San Francisco, Golden and Toulouse.