At Loft Orbital, we have just successfully launched multiple satellites that we fly and operate ourselves. With these satellites on-orbit and a wave of exciting missions launching soon, we are scaling up quickly as a global company.

We are looking for a Hardware in the Loop Engineer to be part of the team building and maintaining all of Loft’s test benches internationally, across our San Francisco, CA, Golden, CO and Toulouse, France sites.

As a Hardware in the Loop Engineer, you will primarily help design, develop and deploy our test infrastructure and the tools for automating both our hardware and software testing, that will help us scale as a company. Sitting between the spacecraft and all the other teams, you will have a big impact in ensuring that every element of our satellite work without any bugs. We are looking for engineers with a product mindset, who have a good grasp on software engineering principles and experience with setting up software infrastructures. Additionally, we are looking for someone who is:

- Able to work independently with some guidance. People owning their work is important to us!

- Able to wear multiple hats as needs arise. We are a small company disrupting an entire industry!

- Not afraid to get out of their comfort zone to explore and learn. Technologies are evolving at rapid rates, and we must stay relevant!

Our culture at Loft Orbital promotes collaboration and ownership to our developers, fostering efforts hand to hand with other teams, internally and externally.

Wanna join the adventure?

*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.

About the role:

Designing, developing, and deploying our Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) test benches that emulates spacecraft avionics, enabling comprehensive testing
Collaborating with cross-functional teams to understand and meet their testing needs, ensuring the platform is flexible and easy to use.
Maintaining and supporting the HIL infrastructure, ensuring high availability and reliability for continuous integration and testing.

Must-haves:

5+ years of working on Linux, networking
Hands-on experience involving embedded hardware, such Raspberry Pis, Arduinos, microcontrollers, or similar (can be personal or professional experience)
Experience debugging issues with Linux system management (systemd, networkd, file system etc.)
Understanding VLANs, OSI layers, tracing packets from one source to another, TCP dump/wireshark, UDP vs. TCP
Proficient in Python (>=3.9) experience
Understanding of how to create, configure, and manage Docker containers
Experience with one or more continuous integration tools

Nice-to-haves:

Experience setting up Gitlab CI/CD pipelines
Experience setting up automated hardware in the loop (HIL) test benches
Experience using Kubernetes

Note: A cover letter is not required to submit your application. We prefer you complete the application questions instead.

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.