---
title: 'Senior Ground Software Engineer at Astro Mechanica'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-ground-software-engineer-astro-mechanica-san-francisco-0wrba5p47pfp'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-31'
---

# Senior Ground Software Engineer at Astro Mechanica

- **Company:** Astro Mechanica
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA
- **Compensation:** $175k–$250k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Posted:** 2026-10-28
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-31
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/astro-mechanica/b66d95fa-f4e7-4a17-8da3-59fb977ddebf

## Job description

## ABOUT US:

Astro Mechanica is a vertically integrated aerospace company developing a scalable technology platform to power critical infrastructure, mission operations, and the future of flight. We apply aerospace engineering and quality standards across our products, delivering high performance, reliability, and efficiency for the most demanding operating environments. Astro Mechanica is backed by leading venture and strategic investors, including Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Giant Step Capital, United Airlines Ventures, and Voyager Ventures.

## WHO WE ARE:

We’re a team of passionate engineers dedicated to advancing aerospace. We’re generalists with specialist depth, united by a flat structure and a shared obsession with building things that work well. We move fast, stay pragmatic, and let engineering excellence speak louder than hierarchy.

## WHO YOU ARE:

Astro Mechanica is seeking a Senior Ground Software Engineer (Telemetry & Control) to join our growing team. The ideal candidate is excited to own all of our aircraft’s data from the moment it leaves the plane until a command goes back to it: everything from the aircraft radio down. You will architect the end-to-end system that ingests, processes, stores, and visualizes flight telemetry in Mission Control, observes the health of the aircraft, and commands the plane. This is not a big-data problem; the data is modest in volume but complex and time critical, and it should reach an operator’s screen within one second of leaving the aircraft. Your work at Astro Mechanica will be fast-paced in a dynamic startup environment and will have a direct impact on our mission.

## WHAT YOU’LL DO:

- Architect and build the end-to-end ground data pipeline, from telemetry ingestion off the radio link through real-time processing, storage, backend APIs and business logic, to front-end visualization in Mission Control
- Drive low latency across the entire system, not just one stage, targeting roughly one second from aircraft to operator display
- Design for fault tolerance so that a failed network path, a crashed service, or a cloud region outage never puts the aircraft at risk
- Select and operate the right database technologies, including time series databases, for flight telemetry
- Build the tools operators use to monitor aircraft health and command the plane
- Keep the pipeline clean and simple enough that the team can reason about it end to end
- Work closely with flight software and other engineering disciplines to define the interfaces between the aircraft and the ground

## WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR:

- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Math, or a Science discipline and 5+ years of professional software development experience
- Experience building real-time data or telemetry ingestion and processing systems
- Experience implementing a cloud stack that ingests data, stores it in a database, and processes it to serve an application (web, mobile, or otherwise)
- Hands-on experience with time series databases and a strong understanding of the trade-offs between database technologies and data ingestion approaches
- Experience designing low-latency, high-reliability systems, including fault tolerance for network and service failures
- Proficiency in the languages, frameworks, and API design used to expose data from a database to applications
- Breadth across the stack, with the greatest depth on the backend and cloud side; you don’t need to have built every layer
- Front-end experience building web apps that query a server and render live data is a plus
- Experience with telemetry from physical systems (aircraft, launch vehicles, satellites, autonomous vehicles, or connected vehicle fleets), radio links, or mission control and observability tooling is a plus

## PERKS & BENEFITS:

- Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance, including Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
- 401(k) program and transparent stock option plan
- Self-managed and flexible time-off policy, including PTO, paid holidays, and sick time
- Flexible work environment

## ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

At Astro Mechanica, we highly value in-office work to foster collaboration and strengthen our company culture. We consider working in the office five days a week an essential part of the employee's role. Astro Mechanica is an equal opportunity employer. We proudly recruit and hire a diverse workforce and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

## About Astro Mechanica

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Astro Mechanica is building the world’s first turboelectric adaptive jet engine (Duality) that achieves high efficiency across both subsonic and supersonic speeds, aiming to democratize high-speed flight.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Venture-backed; latest round: Series A-II / Venture Round in September 2025)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2021
- **Founders**: Ian Brooke (CEO & Founder)

## Core Business
- **Primary industries**: Aerospace, aviation propulsion, defense systems
- **Target customers**: US government (military and defense applications), commercial aviation (long-term), cargo/logistics
- **Mission/purpose**: “Democratize high-speed flight by making supersonic travel flexible, accessible, and sustainable” – developing rapid, on-demand, point-to-point global mobility.

## Products & Services
- **Duality™ Propulsion System**: A proprietary dual-use turboelectric adaptive jet engine designed to be efficient at all speeds from subsonic to supersonic. Currently in development and expected to begin altitude testing in 2027 on a dedicated testbed aircraft.
- **Airframe & Flight Systems**: Vertically integrated design of airframes and flight control systems optimized for the Duality engine, with near-term focus on government contracts.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total funding raised – **$54.7 million** as of the latest venture round in September 2025 (LinkedIn data; earlier reports by CBInsights indicated $27.6 million, likely reflecting a prior round)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: United Airlines Ventures (lead investor in latest round), Andreessen Horowitz, Giant Step Capital, Y Combinator (seed)
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount grew **228.6% year-over-year** to ~35 employees; **36 active job postings** as of mid-2025; rapid hiring across engineering, manufacturing, and leadership roles; moving toward engine flight test in 2027.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Unique engine architecture**: The turboelectric adaptive design allows a single engine to operate efficiently from subsonic to supersonic regimes, removing the need for afterburners or separate engines.
- **Vertical integration**: In-house engine, airframe, and flight systems development enables tight optimization and rapid iteration.
- **Flat engineering culture**: Described as “generalists with specialist depth” and a flat structure that accelerates decision-making and innovation.

## Strategic Focus
- **Near-term**: Engine altitude testing (scheduled for 2027) and securing US government contracts for high-speed systems.
- **Long-term**: Develop a full aircraft platform and operational model for economically viable supersonic commercial travel.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Emphasis on engineering excellence, pragmatism, and moving fast. Flat hierarchy where “engineering speaks louder than hierarchy.”
- **Work policy**: Hybrid environment – most roles are based in San Francisco with a mix of in-office and remote collaboration. The majority of job listings specify “In-Office” at the HQ.
- **Notable perks**: Not explicitly listed, but the company offers equity (typical for startups) and the opportunity to work on groundbreaking aerospace technology from concept to flight.
- **Engineering focus**: Strong technical team with talent from SpaceX, Relativity Space, Boom Supersonic, Lockheed Martin, and Astra. Active hiring in propulsion, flight software, GNC, test engineering, and manufacturing.

## Sources
1. [astromecha.co](https://www.astromecha.co/)
2. [astromecha.co/careers](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/astro-mechanica)
3. [linkedin.com/company/astro-mechanica](https://www.linkedin.com/company/astro-mechanica)
4. [cbinsights.com/company/astro-mechanica](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/astro-mechanica)
5. [builtin.com/company/astro-mechanica](https://builtin.com/company/astro-mechanica)

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