Careers at BlackSky Technology

Mission Management, Software Engineering Manager About Us: BlackSky is a real-time intelligence company. We own and operate the world's most advanced space-based intelligence platform and provide customers satellite imagery, automated analytics and high-frequency monitoring of strategic locations, economic assets and events from around the globe. BlackSky is trusted by the most demanding allied military and intelligence organizations and commercial companies to deliver foresight into critical matters that affect national security and the economy. BlackSky's data enables governments and businesses to see, understand and anticipate change as it happens, giving them the ultimate strategic advantage so they can act quickly. Our global team works with cutting-edge technology to make a difference around the world and prides itself on being people-first, customer-focused and fun. BlackSky is seeking a thoughtful and technically strong Engineering Manager to lead our Mission Management Engineering team. This integrated product team owns the development and maintenance of optimal, automated autonomous operations for the BlackSky satellite constellation. As the manager of the Mission Management Engineering team, you will guide the engineers who design, build, and operate software that autonomously plan out imaging and communication activity across the BlackSky satellite constellation for imaging operations while meeting constellation performance goals. In this role, you’ll provide technical direction, build healthy engineering processes, and cultivate a culture of curiosity, safety, and ownership. You will partner with mission operations, spacecraft engineering, product teams, and program leadership to ensure the team consistently meets both commercial production goals and program ‑ driven requirements. This includes balancing long ‑ term reliability with rapid iteration, supporting operational readiness for live constellation needs, and delivering capabilities aligned with customer commitments and program milestones. You’ll help your team reason about complex autonomous systems where reliability matters as much as performance, and you’ll play a key part in scaling our constellation as we grow. Success in this role means enabling your team to deliver high-quality, dependable software; ensuring operational excellence; communicating effectively across disciplines; and supporting engineers in developing their careers while fostering a collaborative, mission-focused environment. This role is strongly preferred to be in the Seattle, WA area. Who you are: An effective people manager who is excited to guide, coach, and scale a team. A technical leader who can provide clear architectural direction while empowering engineers to make informed decisions and grow their expertise. An organized planner who can translate evolving priorities into clear roadmaps, break work into actionable tasks, and drive predictable execution. A collaborator who has experience partnering with cross functional teams across an organization. A dependable executor who drives clear priorities, sets realistic expectations, and ensures the team delivers high‑quality results consistently. A culture builder who values collaboration, inclusivity, psychological safety, and continuous improvement — and actively models those behaviors. Responsibilities: Build, develop, and lead the Mission Management engineering team responsible for autonomous satellite operations planning. Work with leadership to drive prioritization and planning across Mission Management projects with regards to commercial and program objectives, ensuring engineering efforts stay aligned with business goals, customer commitments, and mission operations. Partner with various teams such as flight operations, flight software, ground software, mission planning, systems engineering, product, and program leadership to clarify requirements, align priorities, and maintain a strong end-to-end understanding of system behavior. Provide technical direction and architectural guidance for orchestrating constellation activities. Establish and continuously improve engineering processes including design reviews, code reviews, testing practices, system and satellite safety considerations, and operational readiness. Foster a healthy on-call culture and ensure effective support of live operational systems, including incident response, root ‑ cause analysis, and long-term corrective actions. Drive roadmap planning, resource allocation, and execution across multiple projects, balancing rapid iteration with long ‑ term reliability and availability. Hire, onboard, coach, and evaluate engineers, emphasizing skill development, collaboration, and accountability. Perform other leadership tasks as required to ensure the success of the team and mission. Support Launch and Early Operations of new satellites. Other responsibilities as assigned. Required Qualifications: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree or higher in one of the following fields: computer sceince, mathematics, physics, statistics, or another computational field. A minimum of eight (8) years of professional experience in software engineering, including experience building or operating complex distributed, autonomous, or mission ‑ critical systems. At least two (2) years of experience leading engineering teams as a people manager or technical lead with formal leadership responsibilities. Strong technical background in one or more programming languages (e.g., Go, Python, C++), with the ability to provide architectural guidance and review complex designs. Experience developing and deploying microservices in cloud environments (e.g., AWS, GCP, Azure) and on-premises Kubernetes ‑ based systems. Solid understanding of CI/CD pipelines, automated testing strategies, version control, and operational best practices. Demonstrated ability to manage priorities, coordinate across teams, and deliver results in fast-paced environments with operational dependencies. Excellent communication, collaboration, and conflict ‑ resolution skills, especially in cross ‑ functional settings. Some programs this role supports may req uire the candidate to be a U.S. citizen. Preferred Qualifications: Master’s degree (or higher) in a relevant technical field. Experience managing teams working with infrastructure‑as‑code tools (e.g., Terraform, Ansible), container orchestration (e.g., Kubernetes, Nomad), or distributed systems. Knowledge of system safety, fault tolerance, redundancy, and recovery strategies in autonomous or operationally sensitive environments. Background in satellite operations, ground stations, or aerospace domains (e.g., orbital mechanics, attitude dynamics, and satellite systems). Experience with automation of complex systems (satellite, vehicle fleets, drones, etc.). Expertise in software/hardware performance characteristic. Knowledge of geospatial systems or data. Prior experience aligning engineering execution with both commercial production SLAs and program‑specific requirements, deliverables, or milestones. Life at BlackSky for full-time benefits-eligible employees includes: Medical, dental, vision, disability, group term life and AD&D, voluntary life and AD&D insurance BlackSky pays 100% of employee-only premiums for medical, dental and vision and contributes $100/month for out-of-pocket expenses! 15 days of PTO, 11 Company holidays, four Floating Holidays (pro-rated based on hire date), one day of paid volunteerism leave per year, parental leave and more 401(k) pre-tax and Roth deferral options with employer match Flexible Spending Accounts Employee Stock Purchase Program Employee Assistance and Travel Assistance Programs Employer matching donations Professional development Mac or PC? Your choice! Awesome swag The anticipated salary range for candidates in Seattle, WA is $165,000-205,000 per year. The final compensation package offered to a successful candidate will be dependent on specific background and education. BlackSky is a multi-state employer, and this pay scale may not reflect salary ranges in other states or locations outside of Seattle, WA. BlackSky is committed to hiring and retaining a diverse workforce. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law. 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. EEO/Pay Transparency Statements: https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/eeopost.pdf https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/OFCCP_EEO_Supplement_Final_JRF_QA_508c.pdf

Mission Management, Software Engineering Manager About Us: BlackSky is a real-time intelligence company. We own and operate the world's most advanced space-based intelligence platform and provide customers satellite imagery, automated analytics and high-frequency monitoring of strategic locations, economic assets and events from around the globe. BlackSky is trusted by the most demanding allied military and intelligence organizations and commercial companies to deliver foresight into critical matters that affect national security and the economy. BlackSky's data enables governments and businesses to see, understand and anticipate change as it happens, giving them the ultimate strategic advantage so they can act quickly. Our global team works with cutting-edge technology to make a difference around the world and prides itself on being people-first, customer-focused and fun. BlackSky is seeking a thoughtful and technically strong Engineering Manager to lead our Mission Management Engineering team. This integrated product team owns the development and maintenance of optimal, automated autonomous operations for the BlackSky satellite constellation. As the manager of the Mission Management Engineering team, you will guide the engineers who design, build, and operate software that autonomously plan out imaging and communication activity across the BlackSky satellite constellation for imaging operations while meeting constellation performance goals. In this role, you’ll provide technical direction, build healthy engineering processes, and cultivate a culture of curiosity, safety, and ownership. You will partner with mission operations, spacecraft engineering, product teams, and program leadership to ensure the team consistently meets both commercial production goals and program ‑ driven requirements. This includes balancing long ‑ term reliability with rapid iteration, supporting operational readiness for live constellation needs, and delivering capabilities aligned with customer commitments and program milestones. You’ll help your team reason about complex autonomous systems where reliability matters as much as performance, and you’ll play a key part in scaling our constellation as we grow. Success in this role means enabling your team to deliver high-quality, dependable software; ensuring operational excellence; communicating effectively across disciplines; and supporting engineers in developing their careers while fostering a collaborative, mission-focused environment. This role is strongly preferred to be in the Seattle, WA area. Who you are: An effective people manager who is excited to guide, coach, and scale a team. A technical leader who can provide clear architectural direction while empowering engineers to make informed decisions and grow their expertise. An organized planner who can translate evolving priorities into clear roadmaps, break work into actionable tasks, and drive predictable execution. A collaborator who has experience partnering with cross functional teams across an organization. A dependable executor who drives clear priorities, sets realistic expectations, and ensures the team delivers high‑quality results consistently. A culture builder who values collaboration, inclusivity, psychological safety, and continuous improvement — and actively models those behaviors. Responsibilities: Build, develop, and lead the Mission Management engineering team responsible for autonomous satellite operations planning. Work with leadership to drive prioritization and planning across Mission Management projects with regards to commercial and program objectives, ensuring engineering efforts stay aligned with business goals, customer commitments, and mission operations. Partner with various teams such as flight operations, flight software, ground software, mission planning, systems engineering, product, and program leadership to clarify requirements, align priorities, and maintain a strong end-to-end understanding of system behavior. Provide technical direction and architectural guidance for orchestrating constellation activities. Establish and continuously improve engineering processes including design reviews, code reviews, testing practices, system and satellite safety considerations, and operational readiness. Foster a healthy on-call culture and ensure effective support of live operational systems, including incident response, root ‑ cause analysis, and long-term corrective actions. Drive roadmap planning, resource allocation, and execution across multiple projects, balancing rapid iteration with long ‑ term reliability and availability. Hire, onboard, coach, and evaluate engineers, emphasizing skill development, collaboration, and accountability. Perform other leadership tasks as required to ensure the success of the team and mission. Support Launch and Early Operations of new satellites. Other responsibilities as assigned. Required Qualifications: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree or higher in one of the following fields: computer sceince, mathematics, physics, statistics, or another computational field. A minimum of eight (8) years of professional experience in software engineering, including experience building or operating complex distributed, autonomous, or mission ‑ critical systems. At least two (2) years of experience leading engineering teams as a people manager or technical lead with formal leadership responsibilities. Strong technical background in one or more programming languages (e.g., Go, Python, C++), with the ability to provide architectural guidance and review complex designs. Experience developing and deploying microservices in cloud environments (e.g., AWS, GCP, Azure) and on-premises Kubernetes ‑ based systems. Solid understanding of CI/CD pipelines, automated testing strategies, version control, and operational best practices. Demonstrated ability to manage priorities, coordinate across teams, and deliver results in fast-paced environments with operational dependencies. Excellent communication, collaboration, and conflict ‑ resolution skills, especially in cross ‑ functional settings. Some programs this role supports may req uire the candidate to be a U.S. citizen. Preferred Qualifications: Master’s degree (or higher) in a relevant technical field. Experience managing teams working with infrastructure‑as‑code tools (e.g., Terraform, Ansible), container orchestration (e.g., Kubernetes, Nomad), or distributed systems. Knowledge of system safety, fault tolerance, redundancy, and recovery strategies in autonomous or operationally sensitive environments. Background in satellite operations, ground stations, or aerospace domains (e.g., orbital mechanics, attitude dynamics, and satellite systems). Experience with automation of complex systems (satellite, vehicle fleets, drones, etc.). Expertise in software/hardware performance characteristic. Knowledge of geospatial systems or data. Prior experience aligning engineering execution with both commercial production SLAs and program‑specific requirements, deliverables, or milestones. Life at BlackSky for full-time benefits-eligible employees includes: Medical, dental, vision, disability, group term life and AD&D, voluntary life and AD&D insurance BlackSky pays 100% of employee-only premiums for medical, dental and vision and contributes $100/month for out-of-pocket expenses! 15 days of PTO, 11 Company holidays, four Floating Holidays (pro-rated based on hire date), one day of paid volunteerism leave per year, parental leave and more 401(k) pre-tax and Roth deferral options with employer match Flexible Spending Accounts Employee Stock Purchase Program Employee Assistance and Travel Assistance Programs Employer matching donations Professional development Mac or PC? Your choice! Awesome swag The anticipated salary range for candidates in Seattle, WA is $165,000-205,000 per year. The final compensation package offered to a successful candidate will be dependent on specific background and education. BlackSky is a multi-state employer, and this pay scale may not reflect salary ranges in other states or locations outside of Seattle, WA. BlackSky is committed to hiring and retaining a diverse workforce. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law. 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. EEO/Pay Transparency Statements: https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/eeopost.pdf https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/OFCCP_EEO_Supplement_Final_JRF_QA_508c.pdf

Senior Space Vehicle Systems Engineer About Us: BlackSky BlackSky is a real-time intelligence company. We own and operate the world's most advanced space-based intelligence platform and provide customers satellite imagery, automated analytics and high-frequency monitoring of strategic locations, economic assets, and events from around the globe. BlackSky is trusted by the most demanding allied military and intelligence organizations and commercial companies to deliver foresight into critical matters that affect national security and the economy. BlackSky's data enables governments and businesses to see, understand and anticipate change as it happens, giving them the ultimate strategic advantage so they can act quickly. Our global team works with cutting-edge technology to make a difference around the world and prides itself on being people-first, customer-focused and fun. Job Summary: Systems Engineers at BlackSky are the glue that ensures that all the components, subsystems, parts, hardware, software come together to produce best-in-class spacecraft. BlackSky is seeking a proven spacecraft systems engineer to provide a key role in the definition, verification, assembly, and delivery of our industry-defining spacecraft. You will be involved throughout the engineering lifecycle, from creating and understanding mission needs through design, integration, test, and ultimately the operation of spacecraft in orbit. Success in the role requires daily collaboration with a diverse set of team members – mechanical, electrical, software, and test engineers, operators, and program managers. Reporting to the Director, Systems Engineering, this role works in our Tukwila, WA office with a hybrid on-site schedule of 3 days and significant flexibility for part-time remote work. Responsibilities: Organize, lead, and support development of internal and customer-facing Systems Engineering deliverables Build and refine automated tools for analyzing test, analysis, and other verification data at the component, subsystem, vehicle, and constellation levels. Define and decompose system CONOPS into vehicle, subsystem, and component requirements Build and maintain tools to rapidly generate space‑vehicle technical budgets and analysis products Develop system, subsystem, and component verification and test plans Communicate technical information (analysis results, findings, trades) to peers, the Program Chief Engineer, program management, and customers Seek, identify, and implement automation solutions to streamline workflows across Engineering, Production, and Operations Represent Systems Engineering within subsystem‑focused Integrated Product Teams (IPTs) to ensure needs are met and sound SE practices are applied Provide technical oversight of component/unit suppliers and support supply chain activities Other job-related duties as assigned Required Qualifications: Bachelor of Science in Engineering (Computer Science, Aerospace, Systems, or Electrical preferred) Minimum of 5+ years of experience in the Aerospace or Defense Industry, with at least 2 years of experience conducting analysis of real-time hardware and software systems Proficient with Python for data analysis Strong foundation for developing component and subsystem software models Strong understanding of spacecraft, subsystem behaviors, and associated dependencies Demonstrated ability to produce satellite budgets and analyses (power, mass, reliability, etc.) Proficient with requirements management practices Experience developing systems engineering artifacts: Interface Control Documents, Internal block diagrams, activity diagrams, sequence diagrams, state machines, etc. Strong sense of ownership, innate sense of urgency, and bias toward eliminating waste and inefficiency Preferred Qualifications: Demonstrated technical depth in a spacecraft subsystem or payload Experience with requirements tracking tools (e.g. Jama, DOORS) Experience with Jira, Confluence, GitHub, or other similar tools Strong understanding of spacecraft avionics, the space environment, basic astrodynamics, and related spacecraft design considerations Experience with Ansys System Tool Kit (STK) or similar simulation tools Experience with Model Based Systems Engineering tools and SysML Experience working within a Scaled Agile or comparable Agile framework Life at BlackSky for full-time benefits eligible employees includes : Medical, dental, vision, disability, group term life and AD&D, voluntary life and AD&D insurance BlackSky pays 100% of employee-only premiums for medical, dental and vision and contributes $100/month for out-of-pocket expenses! 15 days of PTO, 11 Company holidays, four Floating Holidays (pro-rated based on hire date), one day of paid volunteerism leave per year, parental leave and more 401(k) pre-tax and Roth deferral options with employer match Flexible Spending Accounts Employee Stock Purchase Program Employee Assistance and Travel Assistance Programs Employer matching donations Professional development Mac or PC? Your choice! Awesome swag The anticipated salary range for candidates in Washington state is $125,000-$145,000 per year. The final compensation package offered to a successful candidate will be dependent on specific background and education. BlackSky is a multi-state employer, and this pay scale may not reflect salary ranges in other states or locations outside of Seattle, WA. BlackSky is committed to hiring and retaining a diverse workforce. We are proud to be Equal Opportunity. All Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law. 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. EEO/ Pay Transparency Statements: https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/eeopost.pdf https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/OFCCP_EEO_Supplement_Final_JRF_QA_508c.pdf