Software Engineer (Ground Software)

Location: In-person presence required at the headquarters in Torrance, California, United States

Salary: $123,000–$150,000 per year plus equity

Company

K2 Space is a Series C space startup developing high-power satellite platforms for commercial and U.S. government missions from low Earth orbit to deep space.

What you will do

• Design and implement software used to build, test, and operate satellite vehicles and customer payloads.
• Extend the mission software platform used to operate K2’s Gravitas satellite and support multiple constellations.
• Collaborate with Mission Operations, Flight Software, and external customers to define mission architecture and deliver payload software.
• Facilitate software design reviews, architecture discussions, and code reviews.
• Work across a Rust backend and TypeScript/Vue frontend to support development, testing, and operations milestones.
• Provide on-call support for ground testing and on-orbit spacecraft operations while mentoring other engineers.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering, mathematics, or another STEM discipline, or 3+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• Ability to work in person at the Torrance, California headquarters.
• Must be a U.S. Person under ITAR or otherwise eligible for a federally issued export control license.
• Experience with software engineering and the ability to work on backend and frontend systems.

Nice to have

• Experience with space missions or satellite ground segments.
• Experience with Rust or another statically typed backend language, plus JavaScript or TypeScript and modern frontend tooling.
• Experience with CI/CD, deployment, monitoring, HTTP or gRPC APIs, SQL databases, and event-driven architectures.
• Experience building reliable scalable systems with Docker, Kubernetes, WebSockets, or server-sent events.
• Familiarity with cybersecurity standards, networking protocols, and data streaming technologies.

Culture & Benefits

• Fast-paced environment at a Series C space startup with multiple launches planned through 2026 and 2027.
• Paid time off, medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• Life insurance and paid parental leave.
• Company equity and additional employee benefits.
• Non-traditional career paths and career twists are encouraged.