Senior Site Reliability Engineer
Loft Orbital
Job Summary
As a Senior Site Reliability Engineer, you will maintain and scale ground segment infrastructure. You will collaborate with development, operations, and IT to ensure the integration, delivery, and reliability of services supporting space operations. This involves working on cutting-edge technology, applying DevOps principles to spacecraft control (SatDevOps), and building automated space infrastructure. Responsibilities include fostering a SatDevOps culture, designing and maintaining scalable infrastructure, improving developer experience, automating systems, evolving observability, implementing best practices for software reliability, and resolving system reliability issues.
Must Have
- Experience with public cloud infrastructure, ideally GCP.
- Deep expertise in Kubernetes, architecture, and optimization.
- Ability to design and build scalable, highly available systems.
- Familiarity with Software Defined Networking (SDN) concepts.
- Experience implementing observability stacks (Grafana, etc.).
- Proficiency in Go, Python, Rust, C/C++, or Java.
- Understanding of DevOps practices: CI/CD, IaC, automation.
- Experience in fast-paced, high-growth environments.
- Excellent problem-solving skills and proactive mindset.
- Strong communication skills; thrives in a cross-functional team.
Good to Have
- Experience with GitOps frameworks (ArgoCD, FluxCD).
- Interest or experience in FinOps and cost-optimized architectures.
- Understanding of orchestration in resource-constrained environments.
- Knowledge of systems engineering tools and SDLC governance.
- Familiarity with security practices, vulnerability scanning, threat detection, risk mitigation.
Job Description
- Collaborate with developers and satellite operators to foster a strong SatDevOps culture.
- Design, implement, and maintain scalable, reliable, and secure infrastructure in a hybrid cloud environment.
- Improve our developer experience by building better tools, workflows, and environments.
- Lead efforts to automate and optimize systems, including CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure provisioning (IaC), and deployment workflows.
- Own and evolve our observability stack (metrics, tracing, logs) to improve usability and performance. Grafana-centric ecosystems are a plus.
- Implement and advocate for best practices in software reliability, fault tolerance, and performance tuning.
- Proactively identify, investigate, and resolve system reliability issues, performing root cause analyses and implementing long-term fixes.
- Partner with teams to design and operate Software Defined Network (SDN) solutions.
- Contribute to a collaborative and inclusive team culture where respectful debate and continuous learning are celebrated.
- Strong experience with public cloud infrastructure, ideally GCP.
- Deep expertise in Kubernetes, architecture, deployment, ops, and resource optimization.
- Demonstrated ability to design and build scalable, highly available systems.
- Familiarity with Software Defined Networking (SDN) concepts and tools.
- Experience implementing and maintaining observability stacks (Grafana, Prometheus, Loki, etc.).
- Proficiency in at least one backend language: Go, Python, Rust, C/C++, or Java.
- Deep understanding and hands-on experience with DevOps practices: CI/CD, infrastructure as code (IaC), and automation.
- Proven track record of working in fast-paced, high-growth technical environments.
- Excellent problem-solving skills and ability to operate independently with a proactive, results-driven mindset.
- Strong communication skills; thrives in a multicultural, cross-functional team.
- Hands-on experience with GitOps frameworks (ArgoCD, FluxCD).
- Interest or experience in FinOps and cost-optimized architectures.
- Understanding of orchestration in resource-constrained environments, like space systems.
- Knowledge of systems engineering tools and SDLC governance.
- Familiarity with security practices, vulnerability scanning, threat detection, risk mitigation.
*Research shows that while men apply to jobs where they meet an average of 60% of the criteria, women and other marginalized people tend to only apply when they meet 100% of the qualifications. At Loft, we value respectful debate and people who aren’t afraid to challenge assumptions. We strongly encourage you to apply, even if you don’t check all the boxes.
Who We Are Loft Orbital builds “shareable” satellites, providing a fast & simple path to orbit for organizations that require access to space. Powered by our hardware & software products, we operate satellites, fly customer payloads onboard, and handle entire missions from end to end - significantly reducing the lead-time and risk of a traditional space mission. Our standard interface enables us to fly multiple customer payloads on the same satellite, with capabilities such as earth imagery, weather & climate /science data collection, IoT connectivity, in-orbit demonstrations, and national security missions. Our customers trust us to manage their space infrastructure, so they can focus on what matters most to them: operating their mission and collecting their data. At Loft, you’ll be given the autonomy and ownership to solve significant challenges, but with a close-knit and supportive team at your back. We believe that diversity and community are the foundation of an open culture. We are committed to hiring the best people regardless of background and make their time at Loft the most fulfilling period of their career. We value kind, supportive and team-oriented collaborators. It is also crucial for us that you are a problem solver and a great communicator. As our team is international, you will need strong English skills to better collaborate, easily communicate complex ideas and convey important messages. With 4 satellites on-orbit and a wave of exciting missions launching soon, we are scaling up quickly across our offices in San Francisco, CA | Golden, CO | and Toulouse, France. As an international company your resume will be reviewed by people across our offices so please attach a copy in English.