Principal Ground Software Development Engineer

Date Posted: 2026-09-16

Country: United States of America

Location: US-CA-EL SEGUNDO-E01 ~ 2000 E El Segundo Blvd ~ BLDG E01

Position Role Type: Onsite

U.S. Citizen, U.S. Person, or Immigration Status Requirements: Active and transferable U.S. government issued security clearance is required prior to start date. U.S. citizenship is required, as only U.S. citizens are eligible for a security clearance

Security Clearance Type: DoD Clearance: TS/SCI

Security Clearance Status: Active and existing security clearance required on day 1

At Raytheon, the foundation of everything we do is rooted in our values and a higher calling - to help our nation and allies defend freedoms and deter aggression. We bring the strength of more than 100 years of experience and renowned engineering expertise to meet the needs of today's mission and stay ahead of tomorrow's threat. Our team solves tough, meaningful problems that create a safer, more secure world.

We are looking for a skilled Principal Ground Software Development Engineer with embedded development experience to join our Space and RF Sensors team in El Segundo, CA.

Raytheon El Segundo, CA Location

What You Will Do:

Serve as a technical leader within a highly-focused team responsible for developing, integrating, and delivering real-time embedded and mission‑critical software for satellite ground systems.

In this senior role, you will own major technical execution areas, guide architectural decisions, coordinate across multiple engineering disciplines, interface directly with customers, and ensure successful delivery of Ground Software (GSW) capabilities.

You will work closely with systems engineering, integration and test, mission operations, program leadership, and external stakeholders to drive execution, mitigate risks, and ensure the success of high-visibility software deliveries.

Key responsibilities include:

• Own the technical execution and delivery of mission‑critical Ground Software (GSW), ensuring performance, quality, and schedule adherence.
• Lead planning, development, and maintenance of build plans, including recurring build releases, execution priorities, and coordination with control accounts and program leadership.
• Facilitate Kanban workflow, assign stories, manage backlog health, and provide technical direction to the GSW team.
• Design, develop, test, deliver, and maintain software for advanced satellite ground systems, applying modern architectures and high‑reliability coding practices.
• Lead and present technical content at internal and external meetings, including Control Change Boards (CCB), Software Segment Review Boards (SSRB), Working Groups, and weekly program/customer technical sessions.
• Prepare, coordinate, and deliver technical artifacts such as build readiness packages, impact assessments (ICDs/requirements changes), discrepancy report (DR/CR) reviews, and technical status briefings.
• Coordinate cross-team work, including Hardware‑to‑Hardware (H2H) transfers, Configuration Management (CM), Data Management (DM), and lab/IT support.
• Provide senior technical oversight, reviewing peer designs, PMR charts, discrepancy reports, and software installations for new releases.
• Drive DevSecOps and CI/CD improvements, including automated testing in Jenkins pipelines, containerization workflows (Docker/Podman), and Kubernetes‑based deployments.
• Guide software architecture decisions across multi‑threaded applications, microservices, AWS services, Kubernetes clusters, Helm charts, and YAML configurations.
• Collaborate directly with customers, supporting install events, prioritizing DRs, resolving issues, and providing build forecasts to CAMs and IMS stakeholders.
• Support program‑wide leadership meetings, including daily SW leadership syncs, mission engineering customer forums, SDRL coordination updates, and weekly execution sessions.

Work onsite in El Segundo, CA.

Qualifications You Must Have:

• Typically requires a Bachelor's degree in Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM) and 8 years of relevant software experience.
• Experience leading software teams or technical execution for mission‑critical systems.
• Experience developing object‑oriented software using C++ / C / Python in Linux environments.
• Experience with containerization (Docker or Podman), orchestration tools such as Kubernetes, and modern deployment workflows.
• Experience facilitating Agile teams, including Kanban or Scrum leadership roles.
• Active and transferable U.S. Government issued TS clearance (w/SCI eligibility) is required prior to start date. U.S. citizenship is required, as only U.S. citizens are eligible for a security clearance.

Qualifications We Prefer:

• Experience deploying and debugging software in Kubernetes clusters using Helm charts, Podman container images, YAML files, and Kubectl diagnostic workflows.
• Expertise with CI/CD automation, especially Jenkins, automated system/unit tests, and DevSecOps pipelines.
• Experience with satellite ground syste