--- title: 'Tech Lead Manager – Development at Northwood Space' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/tech-lead-manager-development-northwood-space-torrance-f2gvvmkzc11t' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-10-15' --- # Tech Lead Manager – Development at Northwood Space - **Company:** Northwood Space - **Location:** Torrance, CA - **Employment:** full-time - **Posted:** 2026-10-12 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-15 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/northwoodspace/aaf24d1c-d07f-4846-b50b-0cac84c5103e ## Job description About Northwood: Northwood is a modern space infrastructure company bringing the benefits of space to the masses through advanced communications technology. We are building a global network of phased array ground stations that enable real-time, reliable communication for satellite missions such as national security, global connectivity, and disaster response. With a vertically integrated approach, Northwood designs, builds, and rapidly deploys scalable systems that power the next generation of space missions. If you like solving complex challenges and seeing your work deployed around the world with real impact, Northwood is the place to do it. ## Role Northwood's software runs everywhere from the cloud to ground stations in the field, and every one of those deployments starts with a build. We're looking for a Tech Lead Manager to own the patterns Northwood's engineers use to build, test, and release software. This role creates the paved paths to build, test, and ship software across FPGA, embedded, DSP, cloud, and ground teams by providing build tooling, CI pipelines, release mechanics, and developer environments. You also own internal software development: the applications Northwood builds for itself, from engineering dashboards, HR, and operations to shared components Platform Delivery team. This is a player-coach role. You'll lead a small team of internal tooling and developer experience engineers while staying hands-on in the code, running sprint planning, and people management within the frameworks provided by the Head of Platform. ## Responsibilities - Own the build, test, and release frameworks used across Northwood's repos, including the build system, GitLab CI templates, artifact management, and versioning conventions. - Provide paved paths like reusable pipelines and build components, with fast checks that fail early before expensive builds and tests. - Define the guardrails repo owners work within (minimum pipeline stages, signing, promotion gates) and make the compliant path the easiest path. - Partner with domain leads to understand build and release friction, prioritize it on the tooling roadmap, and measure adoption. - Own internal software development: intake, prioritization, delivery, and lifecycle of applications Northwood builds for its own use across engineering and business functions. - Collaborate across teams, contributing shared frameworks, components, and engineering capacity to support product development and operator workflows. - Lead the Development team as a player-coach with sprint planning, design and code reviews, and hands-on contributions. ## Basic Qualifications - Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience. - 8+ years of software or platform engineering experience, including 2+ years leading a team or workstream as a tech lead. - Demonstrated ownership of a CI/CD or build framework adopted by multiple teams with different toolchains, including how you drove adoption and what tradeoffs you made. - Experience building developer platforms or paved paths for engineering disciplines you weren't part of (e.g., software tooling consumed by firmware, hardware, or data teams). - Strong proficiency in at least one systems language (Rust, Go, or C++) and Python. - Hands-on experience with GitLab CI or equivalent, container builds, and artifact management. - Ability to write clear technical standards and get engineers outside your team to adopt them. - Experience delivering internal applications or tools to non-engineering users, including scoping requirements with stakeholders who don't write software. ## Preferred Qualifications - Production experience with Nix for reproducible builds. - Experience with monorepo tooling, build caching, and hermetic builds at scale. - Experience integrating FPGA, embedded, or cross-compilation toolchains into a CI system; familiarity with long-running or license-gated build jobs. - Experience releasing software to disconnected or bandwidth-constrained edge environments. - Familiarity with software supply chain security: artifact signing, SBOMs, CVE automation, provenance. - Experience operating in a compliance-driven environment (CMMC, NIST 800-171, FedRAMP, or similar). - Prior experience as a player-coach or TLM who kept coding while leading. - Full stack experience sufficient to review and unblock internal application work. - Experience deciding build-vs-buy for internal tooling and integrating with SaaS systems. Additional Information: If you need a reasonable accommodation as part of your application for employment or interviews with us, please let us know. To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Northwood Space is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Northwood 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. ## About Northwood Space ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Building a global ground network for the future of space communications — delivering vertically integrated hardware, software, and shared infrastructure that lets space missions go from concept to live data delivery in months instead of years. - **Entity Type**: Private (Series B, raised $100M in January 2026) - **Headquarters**: Los Angeles, California, United States (additional offices in Torrance, CA; Washington, D.C.; with presence in the United Kingdom and India) - **Founded**: 2022 - **Founders**: Bridgit Mendler (CEO, Cofounder), Griffin Cleverly (Co-Founder, CTO), Shaurya Luthra (Co-Founder, Head of Digital) ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: Defense and Space Manufacturing; Space-to-ground infrastructure; Satellite communications. - **Target customers**: B2B and B2G — commercial satellite operators, government agencies (e.g., U.S. Space Force), and defense customers. - **Mission**: “Take space missions further, faster” by building resilient, cloud-like ground infrastructure for the next century of space operations. ## Products & Services - **Hardware (Antennas built for scale)** : Phased-array antenna systems designed for volume manufacturing and rapid deployment (hours, not months). - **Network (Shared infrastructure)** : A horizontally scalable, dynamic capacity provisioning network that eliminates single points of failure and works across multiple orbits and frequency bands. - **Software (Orchestration intelligence)** : The intelligence layer that schedules contacts, routes data, and manages the entire ground network — enabling on-demand capacity without traditional procurement cycles. ## Market Standing - **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed. - **Key Metric**: Total funding raised — **$136.4M** across four rounds (Grant $100K in 2023, Seed $6.3M in 2024, Series A $30M in 2025, Series B $100M in 2026). - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Andreessen Horowitz (led Seed, Series A, and Series B), Founders Fund (Seed), Washington Harbour Partners (led Series B and a prior round). Strategic partners include government agencies and commercial launch providers. - **Growth Signals**: - Headcount grew **117.6% YoY** to 65 employees (as of mid-2026). - 48 active job postings (+140% YoY increase). - Successfully tested next-generation phased array antennas. - Won a U.S. Space Force contract (mentioned in news snippets). - Expanded to three U.S. offices and international presence (UK, India). ## Competitive Advantages - **Vertically integrated ground stack** — from antenna hardware to network orchestration software — collapses deployment timelines from years to months/days. - **Hardware that deploys in hours** and scales like cloud computing, avoiding traditional multi-year procurement cycles. - **Resilient, shared infrastructure** designed for multiple orbits and frequency bands, reducing single points of failure. - **Strong talent pipeline** from SpaceX, Anduril, Tesla, Palantir, and other top aerospace/defense firms. ## Strategic Focus - **Scale the global ground network** by deploying more sites and increasing capacity for both government and commercial customers. - **Volume manufacturing** of antenna systems to meet surging demand. - **Deepen partnerships** with defense and intelligence agencies (National Security Space) and commercial satellite operators. - **Continue hiring aggressively** across engineering, operations, site management, and business development. ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: Values include humility, bias to action, autonomy, and exceptionalism. Teams are trusted to own their work and make decisions. - **Impact**: Work is deployed globally — antennas built in Torrance, software orchestrated from LA, sites stood up worldwide. - **Benefits**: Competitive salary, meaningful equity, comprehensive medical/dental/vision, employer-sponsored 401(k), paid parental leave, commuter benefits, sponsored clubs and quarterly events. - **Work Model**: Likely on-site for hardware roles (Torrance, El Segundo, Washington D.C.); some software roles may offer flexibility. Two main office hubs: Los Angeles (HQ) and Washington D.C. - **Engineering culture**: Fast iteration, real-world deployment, cross-functional collaboration. “If you like building quickly and seeing your work deployed in locations around the globe, we want you at Northwood.” ## Sources 1. [northwoodspace.io](https://www.northwoodspace.io/) 2. [northwoodspace.io/about-us](https://www.northwoodspace.io/about-us) 3. [northwoodspace.io/careers](https://www.northwoodspace.io/careers) 4. [LinkedIn – Northwood](https://www.linkedin.com/company/northwood-space) 5. [Crunchbase – Northwood Space](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/northwood-space) ## Other roles at Northwood Space - [Lead Electrical Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-electrical-engineer-northwood-space-torrance-qxjn1214mbsh) — Torrance, CA - [Lead Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-software-engineer-northwood-space-torrance-1yjqpa8z6s3d) — Torrance, CA - [Ground Site Specialist](https://feeny.ai/job/ground-site-specialist-northwood-space-torrance-j0rptf0g0tyy) — Torrance, CA - [Senior Inventory Specialist](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-inventory-specialist-northwood-space-torrance-gbw6p44av9dw) — Torrance, CA - [RF & Antenna Systems Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/rf-antenna-systems-engineer-northwood-space-torrance-yv36q2gk9s34) — Torrance, CA - [Facilities Associate](https://feeny.ai/job/facilities-associate-northwood-space-torrance-1t035yy9rje6) — Torrance, CA - [Facilities Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/facilities-manager-northwood-space-torrance-6fee5f5vfscr) — Torrance, CA - [Senior Creative Producer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-creative-producer-northwood-space-torrance-arckk62pbps0) — Torrance, CA - [Mechanical Engineer- Fleet Operations & Reliability](https://feeny.ai/job/mechanical-engineer-fleet-operations-reliability-northwood-space-torrance-rjgdgad3sw8f) — Torrance, CA - [Electrical Engineer- Fleet Operations & Reliability](https://feeny.ai/job/electrical-engineer-fleet-operations-reliability-northwood-space-torrance-qsvw6dfm5fz6) — Torrance, CA