Senior Backend Engineer - Mission Experiences

Wanna join the adventure?

Loft Orbital is looking for a Senior Backend Engineer to join our Mission Experiences team. We build customer and partner-facing interfaces, APIs, and tools for planning and executing missions with Loft. We translate complex workflows and mission data into clear, dependable experiences that help customers and partners collaborate with Loft teams and move their missions forward, establishing a standard for space mission execution at scale.

About this role:

• Build and operate features across backend services that collect, manage, and surface critical infrastructure data for the full Loft mission lifecycle.
• Design and implement APIsand integrations that connect tooling and data across teams and systems.
• Partner with program management, satellite engineering, operations, and business stakeholders to analyze and understand mission design, program, and business processes, and translate them into intuitive, reliable software.
• Apply a product mindset across the stack: seek user feedback, identify friction in backend workflows and user experiences, and deliver solutions that meaningfully reduce complexity for the people and teams building and operating space infrastructure.

Must Haves:

• Strong proficiency in Python for backend engineering.
• Comfortable working with Docker for containerization and deployment in scalable environments.
• Demonstrated experience designing, developing, and implementing APIs, for different use cases and stakeholders.
• Experience in backend architecture, including API design, robust database interactions, and integrations between products, internal tools, and business systems.
• Strong analytical skills to understand complex technical and business processes, identify friction points, and translate them into effective technical solutions.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to explain complex ideas clearly, and work effectively across engineering, operations, and business teams.
• Proactive problem-solving mindset, comfortable challenging assumptions constructively and taking ownership of features from design through production operations.

Nice to Haves:

• Experience in the design, modeling, or analysis of space missions, with an understanding of mission lifecycle complexities.
• Experience building customer-facing interfaces, customer portals, or platforms.
• Experience designing or developing tasking interfaces or platforms, particularly in the satellite or Earth Observation domain.
• Proficiency with Django and GraphQL, and familiarity with modern cloud infrastructure platforms (e.g. GCP/AWS, Kubernetes).
• Familiarity with testing tools across the stack (e.g. PyTest, Jest, React Testing Library, Playwright/Cypress) and strong CI/CD practices.

Some of Our Awesome Benefits:

• 100% company-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance option for employees and dependents
• Flexible Spending (FSA) and Health Savings (HSA) Accounts offered with an employer contribution to the HSA
• 100% employer paid Life, AD&D, Short-Term, and Long-Term Disability insurance
• Flexible Time Off policy for vacation and sick leave, and 12 paid holidays
• 401(k) plan and equity options
• Daily catered lunches and snacks in office
• International exposure to our team in France
• Fully paid parental leave; 14 weeks for birthing parent and 10 weeks for non-birthing parent
• Carrot Fertility provides comprehensive, inclusive fertility healthcare and family-forming benefits with financial support
• Off-sites and many social events and celebrations
• Relocation assistance when applicable

*Research shows that while men apply to jobs where they meet an average of 60% of the criteria, women and other underrepresented 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: Space Made Simple.

Founded in 2017, Loft provides governments, companies, and research institutions with a fast, reliable, and simple way to deploy missions in orbit.

We integrate, launch, and operate spacecraft, offering end-to-end missions as a service across Earth observation, IoT connectivity, on-orbit AI, national security missions, and more. Leveraging our existing space infrastructure and an extensive inventory of satellite buses, Loft is reducing years-long integration and launch timelines to months. With more than 30 missions flown, Loft’s flight heritage and proven technologies enable customers to focus on their mission objectives.

With a growing fleet on track to reach 30 satellites by 2027, we are scaling up quickly across our offices in San Francisco, CA | Golden, CO | and Toulouse, France to meet accelerating demand for space infrastructure.

As an international company your resume will be reviewed by people across our offices so please attach a copy in English.

State law requires us to tell you the base compensation range for this role, which is $140,000- $190,000 per year. This is determined by your education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities. The salary range for this role is intentionally wide as we evaluate individuals based on their unique experience and abilities to fit our needs. Most importantly, we are excited to meet you, and see if you are a great fit for our team. What we can’t quantify for you are the exciting challenges, supportive team, and amazing culture we enjoy.