Principal Engineer – Mission Software

Quindar

Principal Engineer leading Command & Control software for commercial and government space operations at Quindar. Responsible for technical leadership, architecture, and mentoring within the team.

Posted 5/19/2026full-timeARVADA • Colorado • 🇺🇸 United StatesLeadWebsite

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

Distributed Systems

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Lead and mentor a multidisciplinary engineering team focused on Command & Control (C2) software and Ground Systems Integration capabilities
Drive technical execution across mission systems programs, balancing delivery timelines, system reliability, and long-term architectural scalability
Serve as system and software architect for strategic government and defense programs leveraging Quindar’s platform
Define and evolve software architecture across distributed systems, mission operations tooling, integration layers, and operator-facing applications
Collaborate closely with product, mission operations, customer success, and executive leadership to translate mission requirements into scalable technical solutions
Guide the team through complex integration efforts involving third-party systems, mission partners, and government stakeholders
Maintain hands-on involvement in technical design and software development, contributing directly to architecture reviews, implementation strategy, and critical code paths
Support hiring and organizational growth for mission software engineering functions
Mentor engineers and technical leads, helping develop technical depth, ownership, and leadership across the organization
Coordinate with Engineering and Product leadership to proactively identify architectural gaps, technical risks, and cross-team dependencies
Contribute to engineering standards, operational excellence, incident response processes, and post-mortem reviews
Communicate technical concepts, program status, and architectural decisions clearly across technical and non-technical stakeholders

Requirements

What you’ll need

Proven experience leading complex software engineering efforts in aerospace, defense, mission operations, autonomy, robotics, or other high-reliability domains
Strong software architecture experience across distributed systems, backend infrastructure, APIs, operator tooling, and mission-critical applications
Experience serving as a technical lead, systems architect, or chief engineer on large-scale customer or government programs
Demonstrated ability to lead and mentor engineering teams while remaining deeply technical and hands-on
Experience integrating software systems across multiple teams, vendors, or external mission partners
Strong understanding of software development life cycles, systems engineering principles, and Agile development methodologies
Ability to code and review production-quality code in languages relevant to Quindar’s technology stack
Excellent communication and leadership skills with the ability to align technical execution with strategic mission objectives
Strong organizational and program leadership skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and drive execution across parallel efforts
Experience working with government customers, defense programs, or regulated environments is a strong plus
Ability to obtain U.S. Security Clearance (Active clearance strongly preferred)

Benefits

Comp & perks

We take work-life balance seriously. We require employees to take 15 days off while offering unlimited PTO and observing most U.S. federal holidays.
Mental health is just as important as physical health, so we provide quarterly wellness benefits.
Comprehensive health insurance for you and your family with 100% employee coverage.
4% 401(k) matching to help employees invest in their future.
Quarterly 4-day company offsites. Previous locations include San Francisco, Nashville, Denver, Santa Fe, New Orleans, and San Diego.
Our culture and company are evolving rapidly — you’ll play a major role in shaping the future of mission operations software at Quindar.

ATS Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

software architecturedistributed systemsbackend infrastructureAPIsmission-critical applicationssoftware development life cyclessystems engineering principlesAgile development methodologiesproduction-quality codetechnical design

Soft Skills

leadershipmentoringcommunicationorganizational skillsprogram leadershiptechnical depthownershipcollaborationproblem-solvingstrategic alignment

Certifications

U.S. Security Clearance