Senior Automation and Test Engineer

About the role

We are seeking a Senior Integration and Test Engineer who will be responsible for identifying and autonomously implementing ideas and solutions as it relates to integrating, testing, and deploying mission-critical Ground Segment infrastructure for government satellite operations.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership on all integration and test engineering activities, ensuring alignment with program goals, mission objectives, and quality standards.
• Lead end-to-end integration of satellite ground segment components, including command and control, telemetry processing, mission planning, hardware, software, and networking infrastructure.
• Design, implement, and maintain CI/CD pipelines to support automated build, test, and deployment of ground segment software across all environments.
• Oversee system testing and verification from requirements definition through test execution, ensuring all technical performance targets are met.
• Develop and execute integration test plans, procedures, and automated regression suites covering nominal and off-nominal operational scenarios.
• Design and manage software tools, simulators, and containerized test environments that replicate operational ground segment configurations.
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex integration issues through root cause analysis and corrective actions across software, network, and hardware boundaries.
• Partner with cross-functional engineering teams early in the design lifecycle to define interface control documents, test requirements, and ensure system testability.
• Create and maintain comprehensive documentation including integration plans, procedures, test reports, and traceability matrices.
• Mentor junior engineers on integration best practices, test automation frameworks, and DevOps methodologies within space ground systems.

Requirements

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related engineering discipline
• 8+ years of hands-on integration and test experience with complex systems, including satellite ground segments, mission-critical software, or large-scale networked architectures.
• Programming languages such as: Java (Sprint Boot), Java-Script, Python, C++, Shell scripting
• Experience with Kubernetes / Docker / Podman / ArgoCD
• Familiarity with tools and software applications that support System Engineering and Integration, Verification, and Validation best practices
• Ability to design, implement, and maintain comprehensive unit and integration test suites, contributing effectively across the full software development lifecycle

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in satellite operations ground segment environments, particularly in network management or packet-level data handling
• Familiarity with the Atlassian tool suite (Jira, Confluence, Bitbucket) in a professional development setting

Professional Skills & Attributes

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to clearly articulate products, deliverables, analyses, and technical issues to cross-functional teams and non-technical stakeholders
• A confident, relationship-oriented professional who builds trust and rapport easily with leadership, peers, and colleagues across the organization
• An analytical and creative problem-solver who can assess complex situations, think critically, and develop innovative, out-of-the-box solutions
• A proactive team contributor who actively shares knowledge, provides constructive feedback, and mentors others to elevate the team’s capabilities
• Strong organizational and time management skills, with the ability to prioritize your own workload—and potentially guide others—to consistently meet deadlines
• A continuous learner with a growth mindset, eager to expand your skill set and develop deep expertise across the full suite of System Performance and Analysis software

Things That Would be Great if You Brought to the Table

• Experience with Flight Dynamics, in the context of satellite missions
• Experience with Mission planning, in the context of satellite ground and space systems
• Experience with Network Management
• Containerization & Orchestration: Kubernetes, Docker, Podman, ArgoCD
• Ci/CD Pipelines & Artifact Management: GitLab, JFrog Artifactory, Bitbucket
• Additional Programming Languages: C++, TypeScript, Perl
• Data Formats & Query Languages: XML, JSON, SQL
• Web Technologies: Node.js, Apache Web Server
• Security: Security vulnerability analysis and remediation procedures
• Project & Development Tools: Atlassian suite including Jira, Git, Crucible, and Confluence
• Architecture & Design Patterns: Microservices architectures and distributed system design
• Testing: Automated testing frameworks and test automation strategies
• Cloud Environments: Government (GovCloud) and commercial Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud environments