Project Lead Engineer - Ground Software

Job Overview

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Project Lead Engineer (PLE) to drive the end-to-end development of EOS, our Mission Control Software. The successful candidate will lead a multidisciplinary software team, oversee architectural and implementation decisions, ensure security-by-design across all components, and guide the system from concept to production.

Responsibilities

• Technical Leadership & Project Ownership: Lead the development, ensuring alignment with multiple missions requirements; drive architectural decisions applying Domain-Driven Design (DDD); promote Security by Design practices; collaborate with infrastructure and DevOps to ensure robust, scalable, and observable deployment environments (CI/CD, monitoring, logging, resilience patterns); own backlog prioritization and delivery milestones; lead, mentor, and support a cross-functional development team; manage Agile processes (Scrum); guide the team in applying engineering best practices including code reviews, design reviews, TDD/automated testing, and documentation.
• Hands-On Engineering: Contribute to design, development, and maintenance of backend and frontend services and cloud/on-premise components; define and implement APIs (REST, gRPC), messaging workflows; ensure scalability, security, and mission-critical performance.

Requirements

• Proven ability to design large-scale, mission-critical software systems using Domain-Driven Design, modular architectures, and well-defined domain boundaries.
• Solid Security by Design experience, including IAM, secure communication patterns, and data protection.
• Ability to translate mission needs into scalable, fault-tolerant architectures.

Technical Skills

• Infrastructure & DevOps: Kubernetes, Docker, CI/CD, automated testing, artifact management, AWS (preferred).
• Backend: Python (FastAPI), REST/gRPC, SQL (PostgreSQL), NoSQL, event-driven architectures, TDD.
• Frontend: Modern frameworks (React/Vue/Angular or equivalent); API integration; UI/UX implications for mission-control workflows.

Leadership & Process

• Experience leading development teams; strong Agile (Scrum/Kanban) skills; ability to translate high-level requirements into actionable work packages; mentoring, code/design reviews, and engineering best practices.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management; accountable for quality, timelines, and maintainability.

Nice to Have

• Space Engineering Standards & Processes (ECSS, ECSS-E-ST-40C, ECSS-Q-ST-80C); TM/TC processing; CCSDS standards; space-to-ground link architecture; CSP; PUS standards; AI tools.

Experience

Minimum 7 years of software development & 2–3 years leading software teams or acting as a technical lead/project owner. Proficiency in English mandatory.

Hiring Process

Application review, initial chat with people team, technical interviews, and offer if a fit. Some roles require visa/work authorization in Italy.

Company Values

At D-Orbit, diversity and inclusivity are integral. We foster an environment where all individuals are respected and valued, and where diverse perspectives lead to better decision making and innovation.