--- title: 'Constellation Software Engineer, Infrastructure at WindBorne Systems' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/constellation-software-engineer-infrastructure-windborne-systems-redwood-city-mdq7vdtxq40d' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-07' --- # Constellation Software Engineer, Infrastructure at WindBorne Systems - **Company:** WindBorne Systems - **Location:** Redwood City, CA - **Compensation:** $130k–$180k - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-06-15 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-07 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/windborne-systems/1bd96c4d-86e4-45cb-b9d1-f910a356fbef/application **Skills:** Ruby on Rails, Postgres, Full-stack application development, Database infrastructure, Service infrastructure > Build and maintain robust, 24/7 infrastructure and data pipelines for a global weather balloon constellation. Ensure system reliability, security, and low-latency performance while collaborating with hardware and flight control teams. ## Job description WindBorne Systems is supercharging weather forecasts with a unique proprietary data source: a global constellation of next-generation smart weather balloons targeting the most critical atmospheric data. We design, manufacture, and operate our own balloons, using the data they collect to generate otherwise unattainable weather intelligence. We're hiring a Constellation Infrastructure Software Engineer to scale and build up the mission critical systems that drive our planetary nervous system. You will be responsible for building up robust infrastructure and applications that can handle business-critical needs around flight operations and automations, data processing, and other operational demands to scale up Atlas around the globe. We are a small team handling all the software that keeps our entire constellation in the air. Development speed and robustness/security/stability are not mutually exclusive; we value pragmatic decisions, high autonomy, low egos, and a willingness to get your hands muddy in the dirt. This is a 24/7 uptime system and the heartbeat of the company. You will have immediate ownership and the opportunity to proactively drive software solutions with our hardware, operations, and flight control teams. What you'd own: - Core infrastructure around manufacturing, launch, flight, internal tools, and data processing. - Data pipeline integrity — Balloon observations flow from satellite downlinks through processing workers into customer-facing APIs. Ensuring this pipeline is reliable, tamper-evident, and correctly permissioned is as important as making it fast. - Architecting core infrastructure to support projects requiring clearance. You'd be a good fit if you: - Have built and shipped full-stack applications — fluency and comfort working with Ruby on Rails, Postgres, or ability to quickly and pragmatically learn on the job. - You’ve been responsible for 24/7 uptime systems. You can implement pragmatic best practices forged from real-world, experienced pain of handling such a system. You have the responsibility to handle on-call paired with the lazy engineer’s desire to clean up systems to minimize getting called as much as possible - Clear understanding of constraints down to the metal and ability. Ability to structure database and service infrastructure to push low-latency software systems to full limit. - Want to work in-person in Redwood Shores, CA with a small team where your decisions have immediate, visible impact Note: Parts of this role may involve work on U.S. government contracts or export-controlled systems. This can require eligibility for a U.S. security clearance or to be a U.S. citizen. ## BENEFITS - 401(k) - Health, Dental, and Vision insurance 100% covered - Unlimited PTO - Incentive Stock Option Plan - Office food and beverages (minimum 2x catered lunches & dinners a week) ## SALARY $130k-$180k** We are considering a range of backgrounds and experience levels for this position and adjust our offers accordingly to be competitive with market rates. ## LOCATION 1600 Bridge Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA. In person required. ## About WindBorne Systems ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: WindBorne Systems designs, builds, and operates the world’s largest constellation of autonomous, long‑duration weather balloons to capture unique in‑situ atmospheric data and deliver AI‑powered weather forecasts. - **Entity Type**: Private (Series A – total funding $26M) - **Headquarters**: Redwood City (Redwood Shores), California, United States - **Founded**: 2019 - **Founders**: John Dean (CEO), Andrey Sushko (CPO), Kai Marshland (CTO) ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: Aviation & Aerospace / Weather Intelligence - **Target customers**: B2B, B2G – governments, utilities, airlines, renewable energy operators, and commercial enterprises with weather‑sensitive operations - **Mission**: Build a planetary nervous system that covers 100% of the Earth, providing humanity with unprecedented environmental data and predictions to mitigate the impacts of weather uncertainty and climate change [windbornesystems.com/mission](https://windbornesystems.com/mission) ## Products & Services - **Atlas Balloon Constellation**: A global fleet of long‑duration smart weather balloons that autonomously control altitude and provide ~50 vertical profiles per balloon, reaching remote oceans and polar regions [windbornesystems.com](https://www.windbornesystems.com/) - **WeatherMesh**: A proprietary deep‑learning forecast model that fuses Atlas balloon data with other sources to produce forecasts that surpass the accuracy of both physics‑based and other AI models [windbornesystems.com](https://www.windbornesystems.com/) - **Data‑as‑a‑Service (DaaS)**: Access to real‑time and historical atmospheric profiles from the balloon constellation, sold to governments and commercial partners - **SaaS (API)**: AI‑based weather forecasts delivered via API, enabling customers to build actionable insights and automations ## Market Standing - **Valuation / Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed - **Key Metric**: Total Funding – $26M across 6 rounds (including a $15M Series A, per news reports, and a $5M venture round led by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in December 2024) [linkedin.com/company/windborne](https://www.linkedin.com/company/windborne) - **Notable Investors / Partners**: Pear VC, Khosla Ventures (seed), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (venture round); partnerships with U.S. and international governments, private‑sector companies, and philanthropic organizations [windbornesystems.com](https://www.windbornesystems.com/) - **Growth Signals**: 72 employees (+75.5% YoY); 38 active job postings (+1167% YoY); operations in 8 countries (US, Canada, Poland, Singapore, South Korea, Nigeria, Sweden, Kenya); hundreds of balloons launched per month with global scaling underway [linkedin.com/company/windborne](https://www.linkedin.com/company/windborne) ## Competitive Advantages - **Proprietary data moat**: In‑situ atmospheric data from regions (oceans, poles) where other sensors are scarce – a key input for improving forecast accuracy. - **Vertically integrated hardware & software**: In‑house design, manufacturing, and AI model development, all based in the USA. - **First‑mover scale**: Only company operating a long‑duration, controlled‑altitude balloon constellation at this scale (Atlas). - **Proven model performance**: WeatherMesh consistently outperforms traditional physics‑based and other AI forecast models, validated by government and commercial partners [windbornesystems.com](https://www.windbornesystems.com/) ## Strategic Focus - Scale the Atlas constellation to permanently close atmospheric data gaps pole‑to‑pole. - Expand federal and commercial sales (DaaS and SaaS), especially to utilities and the U.S. government. - Advance WeatherMesh accuracy and develop new use cases in aviation routing, renewable energy grid optimization, and disaster response [windbornesystems.com/mission](https://www.windbornesystems.com/mission) ## Why Work Here - **Planetary impact**: Every line of code and hardware design directly improves weather prediction, saves lives, and advances climate science. - **Engineering culture**: “The Loonie Way” – high agency, obsessive problem‑solving, building from scratch, and iterating relentlessly. The team includes alumni from Project Loon, Stanford, and top aerospace/tech companies [windbornesystems.com/careers](https://windbornesystems.com/careers). - **Hard problems**: Autonomous systems in extreme environments, real‑time data pipelines, and cutting‑edge AI. - **Work environment**: Based in Redwood Shores, CA; technology is invented, designed, and manufactured in the US. Roles are likely on‑site (many engineering and operations positions specify location). Offices are collaborative and mission‑focused. - **Growth**: 38 open roles across engineering, operations, business development, and more – a fast‑scaling startup with multi‑year runway [windbornesystems.com/open-roles](https://windbornesystems.com/open-roles). ## Sources 1. [windbornesystems.com](https://www.windbornesystems.com/) 2. [windbornesystems.com/careers](https://windbornesystems.com/careers) 3. [windbornesystems.com/mission](https://windbornesystems.com/mission) 4. [linkedin.com/company/windborne](https://www.linkedin.com/company/windborne) 5. [windbornesystems.com/open-roles](https://windbornesystems.com/open-roles) ## Other roles at WindBorne Systems - [Senior Manufacturing Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-manufacturing-engineer-windborne-systems-redwood-city-5397fj657a1r) — Redwood City, CA - [Part Time Launch Operator - Corpus Christi](https://feeny.ai/job/part-time-launch-operator-corpus-christi-windborne-systems-corpus-christi-ky630jzb75vp) — Corpus Christi, TX - [Launch Contractor - Uruguay](https://feeny.ai/job/launch-contractor-uruguay-windborne-systems-artigas-ppsys5pjm21j) — Artigas, Uruguay - [Electrical Engineer Intern](https://feeny.ai/job/electrical-engineer-intern-windborne-systems-redwood-city-yxanrb2he2m7) — Redwood City, CA - [Launch Operator-Alabama](https://feeny.ai/job/launch-operator-alabama-windborne-systems-alabama-4gje76g48nar) — Alabama - [Lead Software Engineer - Gov Platforms](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-software-engineer-gov-platforms-windborne-systems-redwood-city-kqax9vq276dy) — Redwood City, CA - [Meteorological Scientist - Data Assimilation and NWP](https://feeny.ai/job/meteorological-scientist-data-assimilation-and-nwp-windborne-systems-redwood-a2hymqfcy4tc) — Redwood City, CA - [GTM Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/gtm-lead-windborne-systems-redwood-city-2v2gtspff59v) — Redwood City, CA - [Chief of Staff to the CEO](https://feeny.ai/job/chief-of-staff-to-the-ceo-windborne-systems-redwood-city-r8q66bc40411) — Redwood City, CA - [Machine Learning Infrastructure Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/machine-learning-infrastructure-engineer-windborne-systems-redwood-city-chps5jyh06x9) — Redwood City, CA