Senior Elixir Software Engineer

• Own and deliver complex distributed system features end-to-end, from technical design through production deployment and iteration across satellite command and control, mission planning, mission data processing, and data analysis systems
• Drive architectural direction for Elixir/OTP systems, establishing patterns and conventions for fault tolerance, concurrency, and scalability that scale across the team and codebase
• Proactively identify and address technical debt, reliability risks, and performance bottlenecks in distributed systems
• Set the quality bar through rigorous code review, championing testing practices, and writing code that serves as a reference implementation for the team
• Mentor and elevate junior and mid-level engineers through pairing, design discussions, and constructive code review that teaches, not just approves
• Collaborate as a technical partner with product, frontend engineers, backend engineers, space operators, and astrodynamics algorithm engineers, contributing to system-wide architectural decisions
• Ship efficiently and iteratively, breaking complex distributed systems work into well-scoped increments while maintaining a bias toward completion over perfection
• Document decisions and patterns, ensuring the team's collective knowledge grows and onboarding becomes easier over time

What Success Looks Like In This Role :

• You see a PR from a junior engineer that works but misuses OTP patterns; you don't just approve it; you take the time to explain the supervision tree design and why it matters for fault tolerance
• You notice a GenServer is becoming a bottleneck under load; you propose and implement a redesign using dynamic supervisors or process pooling, then document the pattern for the team
• You're assigned a feature and the requirements are ambiguous; you proactively clarify with product and operations, propose a technical approach, and share it with the team before diving into implementation
• You see downtime as an opportunity, not a break; you're the kind of engineer who notices the intermittent cluster synchronization issue everyone's been working around and decides to finally fix it
• You disagree with an architectural decision; you articulate your concerns constructively, propose alternatives with tradeoffs, and commit fully once a decision is made
• You're thinking beyond your current ticket; you're aware of how your work fits into the broader ground system architecture and operational mission, and you surface risks or opportunities early

• Minimum 7 years of software development experience
• Expert-level command of Elixir and OTP, including deep understanding of BEAM internals, scheduling, process architecture, supervision strategies, and runtime characteristics
• Deep expertise in designing and building resilient, fault-tolerant distributed systems, including advanced patterns for process supervision, clustering, and state management
• Strong testing philosophy and hands-on experience with ExUnit, property-based testing, and integration testing strategies for distributed systems; you understand what to test, not just how
• Proven experience designing and evolving service architectures, API boundaries, and inter-service communication patterns at scale
• Fluency with gRPC, RESTful, and WebSocket-based services, including debugging integration issues and contributing to API design discussions
• Comfort operating across the stack when needed; you can read frontend code, understand infrastructure constraints, and collaborate effectively with engineers across disciplines
• Track record of working in Git-based workflows with high standards for commit hygiene, PR quality, and collaborative review processes
• U.S. Citizen and eligible for DoD Secret or TS/SCI clearance, * Bachelor's degree in computer science or a similar discipline
• Experience as a technical lead or primary backend on a product with real users and production constraints
• Deep understanding of OTP, including BEAM scheduling, GenServers, run queues, pg, the Actor model, and advanced patterns like dynamic supervisors, registries, and distributed process groups
• Experience building and shipping complex, real-time systems with demanding reliability and performance requirements (real-time telemetry, large-scale data processing, mission-critical operations)
• Experience with OAuth2, role-based access controls, and security patterns for sensitive systems '
• Deep database experience with PostgreSQL, including schema design, query optimization, and operational concerns at scale
• Experience with monitoring, observability, and distributed tracing in production systems (e.g., OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Grafana)
• Strong collaboration and communication skills that let you thrive in a culture that values respectful, professional, and constructive conflict

You do not need to have experience building space ground systems or experience in aerospace. You'll have ownership of challenging, greenfield problems and a chance to fundamentally impact the outcome of future conflict (and the future of the company), all while enjoying world-class benefits including platinum healthcare, flexible work hours/location, highly competitive compensation, and a generous stock options package., Benefits offered to vary by the contract. Depending on your temporary assignment, benefits may include direct deposit, free career counseling services, 401(k), select paid holidays, short-term disability insurance, skills training, employee referral bonus, affordable medical coverage plan, and DailyPay (in some locations). For a full description of benefits available to you, be sure to talk with your recruiter.

This position requires access to technologies and hardware subject to US national security-based export control requirements. All applicants must be US Persons (8 USC 1324b(a)(3)), or otherwise authorized by the U.S. Government. No company sponsorship will be offered.

To read our Candidate Privacy Information Statement, which explains how we will use your information, please visit http://www.tadpgs.com/candidate-privacy/ or https://pdsdefense.com/candidate-privacy/ The Company will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records in accordance with federal, state, and local laws and/or security clearance requirements, including, as applicable: * The California Fair Chance Act * Los Angeles City Fair Chance Ordinance * Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers