Software Engineer - Ground Software

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Intuitive Machines is an innovative and cutting‑edge space company making cislunar space accessible to both public and private customers. Our mission is to further science and exploration, communications, and economic progress from the Earth to the Moon and beyond. With the first commercial lunar landing in history, multiple NASA lunar missions in development, and additional private missions on our manifest, we pride ourselves in supporting our customers and the nation in paving the way to return humans to the surface of the Moon.

Our world‑class team includes experts in all aspects of spacecraft subsystems design, development, and test, on‑orbit operations, and safety.

We are seeking a Backend Software Engineer with potential for technical leadership to enhance our Nova Core ground system – the backbone of our Mission Control Center. In this role, you’ll own and lead development of critical components of the Nova Core system, taking responsibility for architectural decisions, implementation, performance optimization, and team coordination. You’ll have opportunities to grow into a technical leadership role while maintaining hands‑on development work in our on‑premises, high‑performance backend systems.

This is a 100% on’site position located at our Lunar Payload Operations Center (LPOC) facility in Houston, TX.

• Architect, implement, and optimize core backend services with a focus on maintainability, reliability, and performance.
• Guide implementation decisions and mentor junior developers while coordinating with cross‑functional teams.
• Collaborate with mission stakeholders to ensure services meet operational requirements and scale appropriately.
• Lead backend‑to‑frontend integration efforts, working with visualization teams.
• Direct system updates and enhancements in accordance with mission requirements.
• Support mission operations staff and test events.
• Make key architectural decisions for on‑premises infrastructure scaling.

• 4‑year bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution.
• 5+ years of experience in backend development, preferably with C# .NET and Python.
• Strong experience with on‑premises system scaling and performance optimization.
• Experience with database architecture (SQL and No
  
  SQL) for high‑performance systems.
• Proficiency with containerization (Docker) in non‑cloud environments.
• Experience with networking fundamentals and application optimization.
• Proven ability to lead technical implementation of complex systems.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to translate technical concepts to stakeholders.
• Passion for spaceflight and mission‑critical systems.
• Ability to work in a low‑process and dynamic environment.

• Understanding of real‑time visualization systems.
• Background in mission‑critical operations environments.
• Experience with air‑gapped software deployments.
• Experience with event‑driven architectures and Event Sourcing (ES) + CQRS patterns.
• Experience with backend‑to‑frontend integration patterns.
• Experience with Web Socket APIs and real‑time data systems.

US EEO Statement

Intuitive Machines is an Equal Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Houston, TX