VP, Customer Operations

About Us:

BlackSky is a real-time intelligence company. We own and operate the world's most advanced space-based intelligence platform and provide customers satellite imagery, automated analytics and high-frequency monitoring of strategic locations, economic assets and events from around the globe. BlackSky is trusted by the most demanding allied military and intelligence organizations and commercial companies to deliver foresight into critical matters that affect national security and the economy. BlackSky's data enables governments and businesses to see, understand and anticipate change as it happens, giving them the ultimate strategic advantage so they can act quickly. Our global team works with cutting-edge technology to make a difference around the world and prides itself on being people-first, customer-focused and fun.

The Vice President of Customer Operations is responsible for driving world-class customer experience, retention, and growth across a set of customers supported by the Account Management team. The VP will define the operational strategy, build global high-performing teams, optimize the customer journey, and partner with Sales, Product, and Engineering leadership to ensure customers receive maximum value from BlackSky’s unique real-time intelligence capabilities.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and scale multidisciplinary customer-facing organizations globally.
• Develop operational processes, KPIs, and performance dashboards that measure satisfaction and drive improvements.
• Recruit, mentor, and develop customer-centric teams across multiple regions.
• Build and maintain trusted relationships with domestic and international government and commercial customers.
• Lead complex, high-touch, technical customer engagements with long lifecycle demands.
• Communicate effectively with executive-level and technical stakeholders.
• Drive strategies that maximize customer retention, recurring revenue, and account expansion.
• Build customer health metrics and forecasting models to track experience, usage, and growth potential.
• Partner closely with Sales and Business Development to ensure seamless customer success and expansion.
• Apply knowledge of remote sensing, geospatial analytics, and space-based intelligence solutions to customer needs.
• Guide discussions on SLAs, data delivery, system integrations, and operational workflows.
• Translate complex technical concepts to support decision-making for non-technical audiences.
• Design and optimize onboarding, support, and retention processes across the full customer lifecycle.
• Lead incident management, service reliability, and quality assurance initiatives.
• Map and enhance the end-to-end customer journey for efficiency and satisfaction.
• Translate BlackSky’s corporate vision into a cohesive customer operations strategy.
• Provide insights and customer intelligence that guide product prioritization and roadmap evolution.
• Work closely with Sales, Product, Engineering, Marketing, and Executive Teams to support strategic priorities.
• Represent Customer Operations in presentations to leadership, partners, and government stakeholders.
• Lead transformation efforts in rapidly evolving environments.
• Implement new structures, processes, and systems to support long-term scale.
• Drive modernization initiatives that elevate the customer experience and operational effectiveness.

Success Metrics

• Customer satisfaction and NPS improvements
• Customer retention and renewal rates
• Account expansion and usage growth
• Time-to-value and onboarding efficiency
• Operational reliability and incident reduction
• Performance of customer-facing team
• Adoption and impact of operational processes and tools

Required Experience & Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business or related field
• 20+ years of total professional experience
• At least 10 years leading customer-facing teams
• Minimum 6 years in the geospatial or remote sensing sector
• Proven experience scaling global customer operations teams
• Strong operational, analytical, and strategic planning capabilities
• Experience with complex technical or government customer engagements
• Excellent communication and executive stakeholder management skills

Travel Requirements

• Domestic and international travel as required (typically 15-20%) to support customer engagements, team activities, and executive meetings.

Work Environment

• Fast-paced, high-growth technology and space industry environment
• Strong emphasis on cross-functional collaboration and remote teamwork
• Ability to work across multiple time zones and global teams
• Flexible work location depending on organizational needs

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!
• 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
• Flexible Spending Accounts
• Employee Stock Purchase Program
• Employee Assistance and Travel Assistance Programs
• Employer matching donations
• Professional development
• Mac or PC? Your choice!
• Awesome swag

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. Department of State. #LI-Hybrid

Senior Technical Recruiter

About Us:

BlackSky is a real-time intelligence company. We own and operate the world's most advanced space-based intelligence platform and provide customers satellite imagery, automated analytics and high-frequency monitoring of strategic locations, economic assets and events from around the globe. BlackSky is trusted by the most demanding allied military and intelligence organizations and commercial companies to deliver foresight into critical matters that affect national security and the economy. BlackSky's data enables governments and businesses to see, understand and anticipate change as it happens, giving them the ultimate strategic advantage so they can act quickly. Our global team works with cutting-edge technology to make a difference around the world and prides itself on being people-first, customer-focused and fun.

BlackSky is looking for an experienced Technical Recruiter to join our People team! We are looking for a recruiter with full life cycle experience recruiting for technical positions. This person should have a strong sourcing background in seeking, engaging, and bringing in passive candidates as well as overseeing the interview process, and closing candidates with a strong understanding of compliance supporting a government contractor.  A successful candidate will have excellent organizational skills and is expected to leverage effective communication and interpersonal skills to partner successfully with the other recruiters, hiring managers, interviewers and incoming candidates. You will need the ability to exercise sound judgment and be able to communicate with an air of calm in all aspects of scheduling and coordinating. 

This position will report to the Sr Manager, People & Culture and while being located near one of our offices would be great, we are open to strong candidates in certain states in a remote capacity.

Responsibilities:

• Partner with Hiring Managers and Recruiting leadership to identify solutions to recruiting challenges throughout the recruiting cycle.
• Manage online tracking of applicants, review resumes, determine qualifying candidates and coordinate the interview process.
• Schedule phone, video conference, and other interviews; work directly with candidates, recruiters and hiring managers across BlackSky.
• Work closely with Hiring Managers to understand and post requisitions which accurately reflect duties, responsibilities, experience, education, certifications and security classifications required for the jobs.
• Compensation benchmarking and review to research and provide guidance on equitable offers.
• Source top-level talent using methods using various recruiting tools (LinkedIn, Zip Recruiter, etc.).
• Communicate with hiring managers regarding hiring needs and the status of recruitment efforts.
• Maintain recruitment records.
• Be a strong advocate and representative of BlackSky, engaging positively with candidates and employees.
• Other job-related duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications: 

• Minimum of 8 years’ experience of full life cycle recruiting, either corporate or agency, with a heavy focus on technical roles to include: software development, AI/ML engineers, technical program managers, and other engineering focuses.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience.
• Previous experience using an ATS (we use Greenhouse!).
• Strong background sourcing candidates, internet searching, compensation negotiation, scheduling interviews and networking via social media (LinkedIn.)
• Previous experience using compensation benchmarking tools and mapping out compensation recommendations for positions and offers.
• Understanding of recruiting compliance and reporting.
• Previous experience recruiting for a government contractor.
• Excellent communication and organization skills as well as demonstrated multi-tasking capabilities and work ethic.
• Experience multi-tasking in a fast paced, dynamic work environment.
• Experience managing calendars using Outlook.
• Previous experience recruiting for non-exempt positions.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in the space/satellite industry.
• Experience recruiting cleared candidates.
• SHRM-CP or other HR certification.

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!
• 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
• Flexible Spending Accounts
• Employee Stock Purchase Program
• 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 Washington is $100,000-$120,000 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. Department of State. #LI-Remote

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

Staff Program Manager

About Us:

 BlackSky is a real-time intelligence company. We own and operate the world's most advanced space-based intelligence platform and provide customers satellite imagery, automated analytics and high-frequency monitoring of strategic locations, economic assets and events from around the globe. BlackSky is trusted by the most demanding allied military and intelligence organizations and commercial companies to deliver foresight into critical matters that affect national security and the economy. BlackSky's data enables governments and businesses to see, understand and anticipate change as it happens, giving them the ultimate strategic advantage so they can act quickly. Our global team works with cutting-edge technology to make a difference around the world and prides itself on being people-first, customer-focused and fun.

A successful employee in the position will oversee the delivery and ensure successful execution of complex space and ground-based R&D contracts. Work closely with customers, internal engineering teams, executive and business development stakeholders, and finance/accounting teams to manage all aspects of Program execution and drive engagement strategies for portfolio expansion. This position reports to the Director, ISR Programs and is remote but with required location near Denver or Colorado Springs, Colorado for customer facility access.

Responsibilities:

• Manage contract execution, including budget, schedule, revenue and profit margin performance related to customer programs.
• Work closely with Finance and Operations to ensure budget adherence and efficient usage of resources.
• Partner with internal engineering stakeholders to develop execution plans for capabilities that align with the company’s business strategy, and support the Tasking, Collection, Processing, Exploitation, and Dissemination (TC-PED) needs of customers.
• Support Business Development engagement with relevant DOD/IC and International organizations.
• Engage with the PMO (Program Management Office) to effectively align resources to drive efficient execution.
• Develop and deliver reporting and decision briefings for BlackSky senior leadership including program baseline approvals, program management reviews, and milestone gate reviews
• Author, organize, and deliver written reports and presentation briefings for the customer
• Develop and deliver formal and informal proposals and white papers to Government customers as needed to expand program scope.
• Other job-related duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications:

• At least 10 years of experience in geospatial or aerospace program management, to include complex, high dollar value, strategic defense and intelligence and/or tactical ISR programs.
• Minimum of 7 years of commercial/industry experience -- working with and directing aerospace or geospatial engineering teams.
• Ability to operate independently, effectively and decisively in a highly technical data-rich environment with minimal guidance.
• Strong communication skills to work with customers, partners, and team members, and provide effective direction to internal cross-functional teams to create stakeholder alignment.
• Previous experience establishing risk assessments and management plans to ensure all risks are identified and mitigated.
• Proven experience of successfully driving and implementing customer engagement and growth strategies for delivering space-based intelligence solutions to a global customer base.
• Active Top-Secret clearance with SCI.
• Bachelor of Science degree (or four years of additional equivalent experience) in Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, Geospatial Science, or a related field.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Proven track record delivering full lifecycle aerospace programs
• Experience managing technical programs for the Department of Defense or Intelligence Community.
• Strong proficiency in developing and managing complex program requirements, risks, budgets, and schedules.
• Exceptional ability to bring focus, order, organization, and clear direction to complex projects and dynamic situations.
• Advanced degree in a relevant field of study or PMP certification.
• Experience with aerospace, maritime, autonomous vehicle, drone or comparable communications systems and/or mission planning/optimization problem space.
• Experience executing government programs to include firm fixed price and cost-plus fixed fee contracts.

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!
• 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
• Flexible Spending Accounts
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• 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 Colorado is $160,000-$180,000 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 these location.

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. Department 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

Senior Director, Capture 

About Us:

BlackSky is a real-time intelligence company. We own and operate the world's most advanced space-based intelligence platform and provide customers satellite imagery, automated analytics and high-frequency monitoring of strategic locations, economic assets and events from around the globe. BlackSky is trusted by the most demanding allied military and intelligence organizations and commercial companies to deliver foresight into critical matters that affect national security and the economy. BlackSky's data enables governments and businesses to see, understand and anticipate change as it happens, giving them the ultimate strategic advantage so they can act quickly. Our global team works with cutting-edge technology to make a difference around the world and prides itself on being people-first, customer-focused and fun.

BlackSky is seeking an accomplished and driven Senior Director of Capture to lead the Capture team. As a strong candidate, you will have demonstrated success in driving the capture of complex opportunities across government, defense and intelligence through partnering with Business Development/Sales, Product Management, Solutions Engineering and Subject Matter Experts to develop, propose and close differentiated solutions that provide customer value and clearly convey BlackSky’s differentiators. 

This position reports to the Chief Marketing and Product Officer and will play a critical role on a Go-To-Market team as a trusted partner across the organization and are responsible for leading the design of win strategies, innovative and cost-effective mission relevant solutions and compelling proposals for any combination of our product or service offerings within our imagery, analytics and space-based intelligence portfolios. While we would prefer candidates close to our Herndon, VA or Seattle, WA offices we are open to remote candidates in certain states.   

Responsibilities:

Strategy focus

• Manage a dynamic, constantly evolving portfolio of bids and proposals and other strategic capture initiatives. 
• Assess opportunity viability and lead bid/no-bid recommendations based on fit, resources, and win probability. 
• Lead price-to-win strategies. 
• Cross functional lead in developing comprehensive capture plans, competitive assessments and price-to-win strategies and proposals that position BlackSky as the partner of choice for complex intelligence, defense, and commercial programs. 
• Collaborate with Business Development, Product, and Engineering teams to shape opportunities and solutions responsive to customer missions. 
• Lead highly visible priority pursuits activities across all phases of our business acquisition process opportunities >$200M. 
• Responsible for the development of a winning offer and solution (e.g., technical, management, past performance, cost/price). 
• Cross-functional partner on developing an overall solution strategy and approach, aligning customer’s objectives and requirements to generate value propositions and approaches to solve customer challenges.

Operations focus:

• Create, continuously refine, and lead execution of a capture process that aligns cross functional teams and ensures consistent, efficient, and high-quality pursuit execution. 
• Manage team of direct reports who oversee different aspects of the capture process, specifically bids and proposals, while partnering closely with other cross-functional teams (solutions, product, sales, legal, finance). 
• Oversee the design of capture processes and systems to enable transparent and scalable operations across the sales lifecycle. 
• Articulate all aspects of the win strategy, solution and business case including risk and mitigation plans during reviews with senior leadership. 
• Manage the proposal team and process, using best practices in proposal management (e.g. Shipley). 
• Other job-related duties as assigned. 

Required Qualifications: 

• Bachelor’s degree in business, engineering, or related technical field; Master’s preferred. 
• At least 15 years of relevant experience in capture management to include a minimum of 8 years of full life cycle and proposal management experience preferably in the geospatial, ISR, aerospace, defense or analytics industries. 
• Proven record of leading and winning large, complex, multi-year pursuits (10M-100M) in US government or international markets. 
• Strong understanding of federal acquisition processes, contracting vehicles and procurement regulations (FAR/DFAR). 
• Exceptional business acumen and negotiation skills, with the ability to lead cross-functional teams under tight deadlines. 
• Familiarity with Shipley methodology or equivalent structured capture process. 
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with proven ability to develop executive-level presentations and persuasive proposals. 
• Expert proficiency in Salesforce or similar CRM tools to manage pipelines, forecasts, and capture data. 
• Proven track record of teaming and developing mutually beneficial partner relationships with peers. 
• Ability to communicate issues, concerns, and problems in a solution-oriented manner and meet fast-paced hard deadlines with extended work hours. 
• Experience in development of successful negotiation of teaming agreements, competitive pricing strategies, and strategies around varies contract types. 
• Active Top Secret clearance highly desired (or ability to obtain one). 

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA), Engineering, or a related field.
• Demonstrated success leading capture efforts that integrate satellite imagery, AI/ML analytics, and mission solutions.

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!
• 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
• Flexible Spending Accounts
• Employee Stock Purchase Program
• 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 $200,000-220,000 per year with eligibility for variable pay as well. 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. Department of State. #LI-Remote

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

Senior Product Manager, Analytics

About Us:

BlackSky is a real-time intelligence company. We own and operate the world's most advanced space-based intelligence platform and provide customers satellite imagery, automated analytics and high-frequency monitoring of strategic locations, economic assets and events from around the globe. BlackSky is trusted by the most demanding allied military and intelligence organizations and commercial companies to deliver foresight into critical matters that affect national security and the economy. BlackSky's data enables governments and businesses to see, understand and anticipate change as it happens, giving them the ultimate strategic advantage so they can act quickly. Our global team works with cutting-edge technology to make a difference around the world and prides itself on being people-first, customer-focused and fun.

The Senior Product Manager for Analytics will drive sustainable business growth by crafting and executing BlackSky’s analytics product strategy through product specification, strategic roadmap management, product KPI formulation and tracking, product marketing, and direct support to the global Sales and BD organization. This role reports directly to the Vice President of Product Management and while we prefer candidates located near our Herndon, VA or Seattle, WA offices, we are open to remote candidates in certain states.

Responsibilities:

• Work within an industry-leading team of Product Managers to bring the BlackSky strategic vision to life through development and release of analytics products which work seamlessly with our imagery tasking capabilities to deliver industry leading automated activity monitoring and broad area search.
• Develop and maintain the analytics product specification and development roadmap.
• Interface with program leads to define automated object detection requirements including performance targets, categorical ontologies, and delivery methods.
• Define business and technical KPI’s and report performance against those KPI’s on a regular basis.
• Interact directly with internal and external stakeholders to gain feedback on product strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and risks as they relate to both the analytics business model and technical capabilities.
• Form relationships with industry partners to support the complete Tasking, Collection, Processing, Exploitation, and Dissemination (TC-PED) needs of subscribers.
• Publish white papers and present at industry events to promote awareness of the analytics products.
• Support product sales opportunities through both remote engagements and some domestic and international travel to customer locations and industry events (approximately 10% travel).
• Collaborate with internal teams to create product marketing materials.
• Perform other job-related duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant technical field or equivalent work experience.
• Minimum of eight years of experience working with advanced automation and data analytics.
• Minimum of five years of formal product management experience.
• Previous professional experience with Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) data and analytics.
• Strong technical aptitude and experience building and scaling analytics products.
• Strong business and technical acumen with top notch verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally approximately 10% of working days.
• Previous experience working on GTM product launches with a specific focus on information, intelligence and insights derived from integrated data sources.
• Ability to leverage outside-in customer-centric approach to identify unmet market opportunities then build offerings that solve customer problems with optimal product-market fit.
• Ability to operate independently, effectively and decisively in a highly technical data-rich environment with minimal guidance and intellectual curiosity.
• Ability to create cross-functional stakeholder alignment across a highly collaborative team environment by providing leadership through influence.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Advanced graduate degree or MBA. 
• Military and/or intelligence community work experience.
• Experience working with maritime data and analytics.
• Experience supporting an international sales and business development organization. 
• Experience managing products at a startup or rapidly innovating public company with an entrepreneurial spirit, strong business acumen and passion for disruptive technologies.
• Active US security clearance, secret or top secret. 

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!
• 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
• Flexible Spending Accounts
• Employee Stock Purchase Program
• 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 $145,000-165,000 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. Department of State. #LI-Remote

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

#LI-Remote

Senior Software Engineer, Ground & Control Services

About Us:

BlackSky is a real-time intelligence company. We own and operate the world's most advanced space-based intelligence platform and provide customers satellite imagery, automated analytics and high-frequency monitoring of strategic locations, economic assets and events from around the globe. BlackSky is trusted by the most demanding allied military and intelligence organizations and commercial companies to deliver foresight into critical matters that affect national security and the economy. BlackSky's data enables governments and businesses to see, understand and anticipate change as it happens, giving them the ultimate strategic advantage so they can act quickly. Our global team works with cutting-edge technology to make a difference around the world and prides itself on being people-first, customer-focused and fun.

The Ground & Control team is looking for a passionate and driven Software Engineer to join our team, the group responsible for building the autonomous software that controls and monitors BlackSky’s satellite constellation. This includes high-speed tasking, ground and space telemetry, health monitoring, and low-latency communication with ground stations worldwide. In this role, you’ll develop software that bridges the gap between hardware-level interfaces and cloud-deployed microservices. You’ll contribute to mission-critical systems that keep our satellites safe, responsive, and efficient; operating 24/7 with minimal human intervention.

Success in this role means having a strong sense of initiative and ownership, a deep curiosity for how complex systems work, and the discipline to trace and validate requirements while thoughtfully challenging them when needed. You understand the importance of safety, precision, and testability, especially in autonomous systems where small errors can have big consequences. You’re comfortable applying modern software development practices and navigating both low-level and cloud-based technologies. Most importantly, you know how to collaborate in a team environment, communicate clearly, and contribute to a shared mission with humility and focus. While the locations listed in the job posting are ideal, we would love candidates near Seattle, WA office. We may also consider remote candidates in certain states.

Responsibilities:

• Design, implement, and maintain software that enables autonomous satellite operations and real-time tasking.
• Develop and integrate services that interface with ground station infrastructure and satellite communication protocols.
• Build cloud-native microservices to support satellite tasking and monitoring.
• Collaborate with operations, communication engineers, flight software engineers, mission planning engineers, and other software teams to understand and refine technical requirements.
• Write clean, maintainable code with strong emphasis on safety, test coverage, and reliability.
• Participate in design reviews, code reviews, and team planning discussions.
• Support on-call rotations and troubleshooting of live system operations as needed.
• Support Launch and Early Operations of new satellites.
• 10-15% travel required.
• Other job-related duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• A minimum of six (6) years of professional software development experience.
• Proficiency in one or more programming languages (e.g. Go, Python, C++).
• Experience developing and deploying microservices in cloud environments (e.g. AWS, GCS, Azure).
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and modern version control systems (e.g. Git).
• Strong problem-solving skills and an ability to understand complex systems end to end.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills in a cross-functional team environment.
• Prior experience with satellite operations, ground stations, or others aerospace-related domains (e.g. X-Band, UHF, or telemetry). 
• The program this role supports requires being a US-born citizen.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s degree (or higher) in a related technical field.
• Ten (10) years of professional software development experience.
• Exposure to infrastructure-as-code tools (e.g. Terraform, Ansible) and container orchestration (e.g. Kubernetes, Nomad).
• Understanding of system safety, fault tolerance, and recovery strategies.
• Comfort working in high-availability, mission-critical software environments.

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!
• 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
• Flexible Spending Accounts
• Employee Stock Purchase Program
• 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 $140,000-155,000 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. Department 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