Project Lead Engineer – Ground SW

Are you ready to take your career to new heights? At D-Orbit, we’re pioneering the future of space logistics and in-orbit transportation. Established in 2011, our company is leading the way in building profitable and sustainable solutions that unlock the full potential of the final frontier. As part of our team, you’ll work alongside passionate, highly skilled professionals driven by innovation and engineering excellence. Join us in shaping the future of space operations and take your ambition to new heights.

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Project Lead Engineer (PLE) to drive the end-to-end development of EOS, our Mission Control Software. The successful candidate will lead a multidisciplinary software team, oversee architectural and implementation decisions, ensure security-by-design across all components, and guide the system from concept to production.

This role requires strong technical leadership, hands‑on backend and frontend expertise, solid knowledge of infrastructure and cloud‑native patterns, and a proven track record in delivering complex software systems using Agile methodologies.

Task And Responsibilities

• Technical Leadership & Project Ownership
• Lead the development, ensuring alignment with multiple missions requirements
• Drive architectural decisions applying Domain-Driven Design (DDD)
• Promote Security by Design practices
• Collaborate with infrastructure and DevOps teams to ensure robust, scalable, and observable deployment environments (CI/CD, monitoring, logging, resilience patterns).
• Own backlog prioritization, and delivery milestones
• Lead, mentor, and support a cross-functional development team
• Manage Agile processes (Scrum), as they have been defined by the Ground Software Engineering Group ensuring predictable delivery and transparent communication of progress and risks.
• Guide the team in consistently applying engineering best practices and defined processes including code reviews, design reviews, TDD/automated testing, and documentation.

Hands-On Engineering

• Contribute to the design, development, and maintenance of backend and frontend services and cloud and on-premise.
• Define and implement APIs (REST, gRPC), messaging workflows; Ensure scalability, security, and mission‑critical performance.

Requirements

• Proven ability to design large‑scale, mission‑critical software systems using Domain-Driven Design, modular architectures, and well‑defined domain boundaries.
• Solid understanding and application of Security by Design, including identity/access management, secure communication patterns, and data protection.
• Strong ability to translate mission needs into scalable, fault‑tolerant system architectures.

Technical Skills — Infrastructure & DevOps

• Strong, hands‑on experience with Kubernetes (K8s), including designing deployments, managing microservices, configuring networking, and resilience patterns.
• Deep understanding of containerization (Docker) and container‑native software development.
• Knowledge of CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, artifact management, and release strategies.
• Hands‑on experience with cloud environments (AWS preferred)

Technical Skills — Backend Development

• Expert proficiency in Python, including FastAPI
• Experience building REST and gRPC APIs
• Strong experience with SQL (PostgreSQL) and NoSQL design and optimization.
• Experience implementing event‑driven architectures
• Experience with Test‑Driven Development (TDD).

Technical Skills — Frontend Development

• Familiarity with modern frontend frameworks (React, Vue, Angular or equivalent)
• Understanding of frontend architecture, state management, API integration, and UI/UX implications for mission‑control workflows.
• Ability to collaborate with frontend engineers to ensure consistency, performance, and seamless integration with backend services.

Leadership & Process

• Experience leading development teams (technical lead, team lead, or project lead).
• Strong experience managing Agile processes (Scrum/Kanban), planning sprints, reviewing deliverables, and coordinating cross‑team work.
• Proven ability to translate high‑level requirements into actionable engineering work packages.
• Experience mentoring engineers, conducting code/design reviews, and establishing engineering best practices.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills — capable of aligning product, systems engineering, and development teams.
• Ability to drive the project from specification to production with accountability on quality, timelines, and maintainability.

Nice to Have

• Space Engineering Standards & Process (ECSS, ECSS‑E‑ST‑40C, ECSS‑Q‑ST‑80C).
• Experience with TM/TC processing, including handling real‑time and offline telemetry.
• Strong understanding of CCSDS standards, including packet structures, space‑to‑ground communication conventions, and relevant Space Link Protocols.
• Knowledge of space‑to‑ground link architecture. Familiarity with CSP.
• Understanding of PUS (Packet Utilization Standard), including PUS-C / PUS-A.

Professional Experience

• Minimum 7 years of experience in software development & 2–3 years leading software teams or acting as a technical lead/project owner.
• Professional proficiency in English is mandatory

Why Join Us?

• Work on mission‑critical software used in real satellite operations.
• Join a rapidly growing company at the forefront of the space industry.
• Collaborate with talented global teams passionate about engineering excellence.
• Contribute to systems that directly enable in‑orbit services and next‑generation space logistics.

If you are passionate about leading high‑impact engineering initiatives, building secure and scalable backend systems, and driving innovation in the space sector, we would love to hear from you. Join us and contribute to the future of space mission operations.

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