Technical Program Manager, Flight Software

K2 is building the largest and highest-power satellites ever flown, unlocking performance levels previously out of reach across every orbit. Backed by over $1 billion in total funding from leading investors including Altimeter Capital, ICONIQ, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures, and T. Rowe Price — and with over $1 billion in signed contracts across commercial and US government customers, we're mass-producing the highest-power satellite platforms ever built for missions from LEO to deep space.

The rise of heavy-lift launch vehicles is shifting the industry from an era of mass constraint to one of mass abundance, and we believe this new era demands a fundamentally different class of spacecraft. Engineered to survive the harshest radiation environments and to fully capitalize on today's and tomorrow's massive rockets, K2 satellites deliver unmatched capability at constellation scale and across multiple orbits.

With multiple launches in 2027 and plans to scale to 100 satellites a year, we're Building Bigger — helping develop the solar system and build toward a Kardashev Type II (K2) civilization. If you are a motivated individual who thrives in a fast-paced environment and you're excited about contributing to the success of a high-growth Series D-funded company, we'd love for you to apply.

As a Technical Program Manager embedded with our Flight and Ground Software teams, you will own the schedule that keeps software on track for every K2 satellite program. Our software spans everything from embedded code on microcontrollers to cloud-based ground and operations services, and it sits on the critical path of nearly every mission milestone. Your job is to keep that path clear.

You will work day-to-day with software engineering leads to build and maintain the development schedule, track dependencies against hardware and test milestones, and surface risks and blockers before they become schedule slips. You’ll give leadership and program stakeholders a clear, current picture of where the software stack stands. This isn’t a role about writing code. It’s about giving the engineers who do the structure, cadence, and visibility they need to hit their dates.

*This role is onsite at our Torrance office*

Responsibilities:

• Own and maintain the software team's development schedule, including sprint/release plans, integration milestones, and dependencies on hardware, test, and other software subsystems.
• Track day-to-day progress against the schedule, identify slips early, and drive resolution of blockers with the responsible engineers and leads.
• Coordinate flight & ground software milestones (integration drops, flight readiness reviews, customer emulators) with systems, avionics, AI&T, and mission operations to keep the broader program on schedule.
• Maintain the risk register for flight software: flag emerging risks, drive mitigation plans, and know when and how to escalate a schedule or scope decision to leadership.
• Run and facilitate recurring flight software program reviews and planning sessions — keeping them focused, actionable, and tied to schedule commitments.
• Translate engineering status into clear, concise updates for engineering leadership, program management, and customers — tailoring the level of detail to the audience.
• Partner with software leads to right-size process (ticketing, sprint cadence, release planning) so schedule tracking scales with the team without slowing engineers down.
• Support resource and capacity planning for the flight software team, helping forecast staffing needs against upcoming program milestones.
• Continuously improve how the team plans and tracks work as K2 scales production across multiple concurrent satellite programs.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, computer science, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 5+ years of technical program or project management experience working directly with software engineering teams, ideally on embedded, flight, or other high-reliability software.
• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain detailed schedules, track dependencies, and keep a software team on track against firm external milestones (e.g., integration, test, launch dates).
• Comfort working closely with software engineers day-to-day with enough technical fluency to understand what's actually blocking progress, not just what's reported as blocked.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to give leadership a clear, honest schedule picture without diluting or overstating risk.
• Comfort operating in a fast-paced, aggressive-timeline environment with shifting priorities and high ambiguity.

Nice to Have:

• Experience program-managing flight software, embedded software, or firmware for aerospace, satellite, or other high-reliability systems.
• Background as a software engineer or in a technical role, sufficient to read a schedule critically and ask the right questions of the team.
• Familiarity with modern software program tooling (e.g., Jira, Confluence, Git-based workflows, CI/CD) and experience building schedule/status dashboards.
• Experience coordinating software milestones against hardware integration and test schedules on a multidisciplinary program.
• Experience supporting resource and capacity planning for an engineering team.

Compensation and Benefits:

• Base salary range for this role is $165,000 - $235,000 + equity in the company
• Salary will be based on several factors including, but not limited to: knowledge and skills, education, and experience level
• Comprehensive benefits package including paid time off, medical/dental/vision/ coverage, life insurance, paid parental leave, and many other perks

If you don’t meet 100% of the preferred skills and experience, we encourage you to still apply! Building a spacecraft unlike any other requires a team unlike any other and non-traditional career twists and turns are encouraged!

If you need a reasonable accommodation as part of your application for employment or interviews with us, please let us know.

Export Compliance

As defined in the ITAR, “U.S. Persons” include U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents (i.e., Green Card holders), and certain protected individuals (e.g., refugees/asylees, American Samoans). Please consult with a knowledgeable advisor if you are unsure whether you are a “U.S. Person.”

The person hired for this role will have access to information and items controlled by U.S. export control regulations, including the export control regulations outlined in the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR). The person hired for this role must therefore either be a “U.S. person” as defined by 22 C.F.R. § 120.15 or otherwise eligible for a federally issued export control license.

Equal Opportunity

K2 Space is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with K2 Space is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.