What You'll Do 

1. Design and implement containerized microservices within an AWS environment (Lambda, ECS)
2. Lead the design of relational database schemas (Postgres), prioritizing query performance engineering and indexing strategies to handle large, readily available SDA datasets
3. Own the end-to-end feature development and integration of streaming and batch ETL pipelines
4. Familiarity with deploying ML models in production and adding instrumentation to monitor model performance
5. Help with architecture design and defining technical direction
6. Mentor and help develop other less experienced engineers 

What We Value:

1. Strong ownership mentality – you’ll lead technical execution and ensure your features make it from development to production
2. Accountable – The team knows they’ll be able to depend on you
3. Curiosity – We are solving the hardest problems in space and want to hear everyone’s voice to ensure we’re always innovating
4. Leadership – You will be on a small team and will be empowered to help grow the culture and influence technical direction 

Your Ideal Background:

Required:

1. 5+ years of full-time software engineering experience
2. Experience working in the defense/space industry
3. Comfortable working in a small, fast-paced Agile environment
4. Strong communication skills and ability to execute under uncertainty
5. Familiarity with one or more of the following: Machine Learning, SDA, Backend Development
6. Proficiency in Linux, Python, SQL, Docker, and AWS
7. Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S. security clearance 

Nice to Have: 

1. Experience instrumenting microservices with Observability (we use the LGTM stack)
2. Comfortable leading algorithm development across different SDA data modalities (EO, Orbital, RF, etc.) to solve problems such as anomaly detection, pattern-of-life modeling, or maneuver detection 

Compensation and Benefits:  

Your base salary will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: job-related knowledge and skills, education, and experience.  The anticipated salary range for this role is $150,000 - $190,000 annually.

Base salary is just one part of your total rewards package at Katalyst. You will also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of the Employee Stock Option and Equity Plan, as well as a relocation bonus and other discretionary bonuses. You will also receive access to comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage, and unlimited Paid Time Off.

At Katalyst our work on projects involving the U.S. Department of Defense requires adherence to International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), 22 C.F.R. Parts 120-130, which requires compliance with U.S. export laws before allowing employees to perform certain positions. Currently, our available roles necessitate access to ITAR-controlled information, and as a result, Katalyst would have to ensure any non-US person is authorized access to ITAR information before the commencement of employment. We are committed to equal employment opportunities and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin.

*remote work will require an exception from the hiring team

What You'll Do 

1. Understand needs for mission operations interfaces, telemetry formats, commanding, and current use cases.
2. Audit existing tooling to determine gaps in preparation for architecting and designing new ground software
3. Identify critical mission operations workflows and associate them with mission milestones
4. Train on console for upcoming mission operations 

What you will own in the next 30 days: 

1. Produce a cloud based design/ architecture on a scalable and resilient ground software 
2. Help create automated tooling to improve ground procedures
3. Define developer the culture around coding standards, testing, and procedures
4. Mentor junior engineers
5. Improve and own deployment processes through CI/CD
6. Help own and create roadmaps needed to meet program milestones

What We Value:

1. System level thinker understanding cloud based scalable micro service systems
2. Strong desire to build and design something from the ground up
3. Able to understand and communicate customer needs into actionable items
4. Someone who strives for clarity and understanding, but can make do without perfect requirements
5. An operations first developer and architect
6. Someone willing to produce code not just sit back and design
7. A passion for automation and creating systems that streamline operations
8. Someone able to clearly explain trade offs in design and architecture creating trade studies when needed 

Your Ideal Background:

Required:

1. 8-12+ years of cloud based scalable micro service architecture
2. 4+ years leading developers/ engineers  
3. Experience building entire ground stacks from the ground up
4. Experience in creating high reliability production-critical systems
5. Experience with new space companies not traditional primes
6. Owned the process and procedure for deploying, testing and integrating into a full life cycle system
7. Deep technical fluency in cloud, backend, frontend, and streaming systems
8. AWS Suite (EKS, MSK, Timestream, S3, Batch, Event Bridge), Python, C++, React, Tailwind, Redis, Kafka, influx, QuestDB, MongoDB, git, CI/CD, Docker, K8
9. Minimum bachelor’s degree in computer science or other related STEM fields
10. Master’s degree preferred  

Compensation and Benefits:  

Your base salary will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: job-related knowledge and skills, education, and experience.  The anticipated salary range for this role is $180,000 - $240,000 annually.

Base salary is just one part of your total rewards package at Katalyst. You will also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of the Employee Stock Option and Equity Plan, as well as a relocation bonus and other discretionary bonuses. You will also receive access to comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage, and unlimited Paid Time Off.

At Katalyst our work on projects involving the U.S. Department of Defense requires adherence to International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), 22 C.F.R. Parts 120-130, which requires compliance with U.S. export laws before allowing employees to perform certain positions. Currently, our available roles necessitate access to ITAR-controlled information, and as a result, Katalyst would have to ensure any non-US person is authorized access to ITAR information before the commencement of employment. We are committed to equal employment opportunities and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin.

What You’ll Do

1. Support spacecraft flight test by executing fault detection test campaigns, integrated system communication tests, functional and performance verification tests, and flight software sequencing tests
2. Build an understanding of spacecraft rendezvous, capture, and pose estimation software and assist in its integration into multi-axis hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) spacecraft testbed.
3. Develop and maintain existing software to interface to spacecraft hardware subsystems, utilizing communication standards such as UART, TCP/IP, and CAN.
4. Document custom hardware interface APIs for internal and external users, focusing on hardware functionality and reliability features.
5. Review and contribute to the iteration of other engineers’ code with technical rigor through code reviews and subsystem design reviews.

What We’re Looking For

1. Deep analytical thinking and excellent problem solving: You are able to work through intricate technical issues efficiently.  
2. Systems-thinking mindset: You understand how software interacts with spacecraft systems and mission requirements. 
3. Technical mastery: Deep proficiency in embedded C/C++ development for real-time or resource-constrained systems. 
4. Strong attention to detail: You approach their work with rigor and with an understanding and consideration of relevant edge cases could affect on-orbit performance.

Your Ideal Background

1. B.S. in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field 
2. 7+ years of software development experience, including embedded or real-time systems 
3. High proficiency in C/C++ for embedded platforms 
4. Proven experience developing software in RTOS and/or embedded Linux environments 
5. Experience with flight software for spacecraft, launch vehicles, or other mission- or safety-critical autonomous systems 
6. Deep understanding of software architecture, interface definition, and system-level integration for complex embedded systems 
7. Familiarity with fault-tolerant system design, redundancy management, and robust error handling 
8. Experience designing and implementing algorithms for visual inspection, object detection, pose estimation, and relative navigation, including robotics or autonomous system computer vision pipelines. 
9. Proficiency with Git-based version control, CI/CD pipelines, and agile software development practices 
10. Demonstrated ability to technically lead features or subsystems end-to-end, from requirements definition through implementation, testing, and integration 

Additional Requirements: Must be willing to work extended hours and weekends as needed.

Compensation and Benefits: Your base salary will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: job-related knowledge and skills, education, and experience. The anticipated salary range for this role is $150,000 - $190,000 annually.

Base salary is just one part of your total rewards package at Katalyst. You will also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of the Employee Stock Option and Equity Plan, as well as a relocation bonus and other discretionary bonuses. You will also receive access to comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage, and unlimited Paid Time Off.

At Katalyst our work on projects involving the U.S. Department of Defense requires adherence to International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), 22 C.F.R. Parts 120-130, which requires compliance with U.S. export laws before allowing employees to perform certain positions. Currently, our available roles necessitate access to ITAR-controlled information, and as a result, Katalyst would have to ensure any non-US person is authorized access to ITAR information before the commencement of employment. We are committed to equal employment opportunities and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin.