Mission Operations - Principal Full Stack Developer / Software Architect

About Lynk

Lynk is the inventor of satellite direct to device or D2D technology, and has the world’s only commercial license from the FCC to operate a commercial D2D system. Today, Lynk allows mobile network operators' subscribers to send and receive text messages to and from space via standard unmodified, mobile devices. Lynk’s service has been tested and proven on all seven continents, has regulatory approvals in more than 30 countries and is currently being deployed commercially based on more than 40 MNO commercial service contracts covering approximately 50 countries.

Our technology will enable all 8 billion people on the planet to stay connected with the existing standard phone in their pocket. Everywhere. No matter what.

By joining Lynk, you will have the opportunity to directly touch the lives of billions. Your mission will be to bring mobile broadband to billions, pull hundreds of millions out of poverty, and save countless lives.

Job Summary

Lynk is seeking a Senior Full Stack Developer or Software Architect to join our Mission Operations Ground DevOps team and lead the development and integration of our Mission Operations Software System. This evolving system supports satellite health monitoring, ground station coordination, and real-time command and control of our Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellation.

As a senior technical leader, you will own the architecture and evolution of this system, which consists of multiple partially implemented microservices and infrastructure components. Your mission: bring clarity, cohesion, and momentum to an evolving platform—by partnering with the developers who built it, guiding architecture, and enabling consistent delivery across the team. You’ll break down large goals into scoped projects, define technical standards, and ensure high delivery velocity.

Space experience is not required—but if you’ve built software for satellite operations, telemetry systems, or command and control interfaces, we especially want to hear from you.

Core Responsibilities

• Lead the development and integration of full-stack applications for satellite mission operations, including data ingest, state management, and command interfaces.

• Design and document an overarching system architecture for the evolving microservices-based Mission Operations platform.

• Collaborate with current contributors to understand partially completed services and unify them into a coherent system.

• Break down large architectural goals into projects and tasks, with clear milestones and scope estimates.

• Lead local and remote developers by assigning well-scoped work, conducting code reviews, and ensuring delivery of quality components.

• Act as a technical glue, helping align the work of senior experts and rising developers into a unified architecture and delivery roadmap.

• Champion software quality, maintainability, and observability throughout the stack.

• Design CI/CD pipelines to enable continuous delivery and ensure rapid, low-risk deployment of system updates.

• Contribute to the design of dynamic test environments and simulated satellite behavior to validate functionality at scale.

• Create and maintain clear, actionable technical documentation and architectural diagrams.

• Work closely with the Mission Operations Center team to ensure software aligns with operational realities.

• Foster a culture of knowledge-sharing, growth, and cross-functional collaboration.

What You’ll Work on in Your First 12 Months - as a senior member of our collaborative software team, you will

Architect and Align a System of Microservices 

• Review and integrate partially implemented microservices into a cohesive, well-scoped system.

• Define shared service patterns, data flows, and interface contracts to reduce future complexity.

• Drive toward a modular system design that supports fast iteration and resilient operations by clarifying interfaces, surfacing gaps, and aligning contributors around shared goals.

Establish Delivery Discipline

• Create project roadmaps with work packages that are clear, estimated, and assignable to both internal and remote developers.

• Lead definition and integration of CI/CD pipelines for high-frequency, continuous delivery of mission software.

Build Resilience and Visibility

• Ensure the system supports robust logging, monitoring, and alerting.

• Design tools for tracing satellite state, operator actions, and downstream effects of system commands.

Enable Realistic Testing and Simulation

• Contribute to or guide the development of a dynamic test environment or satellite simulator that enables pre-flight validation of software, commands, and behaviors.

Mentor, Collaborate, and Communicate

• Support the growth of mid-level and peer developers through mentoring, architectural clarity, and clear design practices, helping align individual contributions to a cohesive system vision.

Qualifications

• Proven experience architecting and delivering full-stack systems for complex, distributed domains.

• Deep proficiency in backend development with Python, Node.js, or Rust. - Python and Rust preferred.

• Strong experience with frontend frameworks such as React, Svelte, or Vue. - Svelte and TailwindCSS preferred.

• Demonstrated ability to break down architectural work into projects, estimate scope, and lead delivery across distributed teams.

• Fluency with cloud-native development, e.g. containers, CI/CD, microservices, especially for continuous delivery.

• Familiarity with time-series data storage, telemetry pipelines, or operational data flow.

• Knowledge of RESTful API design, OpenAPI, and interface contracts.

• Experience with relational and non-relational databases, e.g., PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis.

• Proficiency in Docker and CI/CD pipelines, e.g., GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, etc..

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience building software for satellite ground systems, telemetry, or command and control workflows.

• Familiarity with mission operations tooling, state modeling, or dynamic system simulations.

• Experience leading remote or hybrid development teams.

• Prior involvement with Infrastructure as Code - Terraform, OpenTofu, Ansible.

• Cloud experience with AWS, Azure, or GCP - AWS preferred.

• Experience in Agile/Scrum environments with an emphasis on iteration, retrospectives, and continuous improvement.

• Experience working on a team with mixed seniority levels and providing architectural leadership without formal authority.

Job Location

Washington, DC area