Staff Software Engineer Jobs in Irvine, CA

At Turion Space, you'll join a dynamic team dedicated to pioneering space technology and innovation. As a Staff Software Engineer in our Enterprise Technology department, you'll architect the systems that power our company operations, build the AI infrastructure that automates our business, and create the platform that allows us to scale as we build the commercial space economy.

This isn't just another internal IT job. You'll build Hyperdrive—Turion’s AI-first single pane of glass. You'll build the central nervous system of a next-generation aerospace company, processing massive amounts of operational data, automating complex workflows, and empowering our engineers to make split-second decisions that affect millions of dollars of hardware.

What You'll Actually Build:

Hyperdrive: The AI-First Single Pane of Glass

• Architect the future of aerospace enterprise operations—building the unified application that accelerates and automates the entire enterprise.
• Build real-time systems that visualize hardware manufacturing status, track supply chain logistics, and aggregate financial metrics into intuitive dashboards.
• Create interfaces that give Turion employees "superpowers," allowing them to manage complex aerospace business processes with the ease of a modern consumer app.
• Design systems that scale from our current operations to supporting a massive fleet of spacecraft and hundreds of employees.

Enterprise Intelligence & Automation

• Support AI-first operations — Integrate LLMs, agentic workflows, and RAG architectures to automate routine enterprise tasks.
• Build systems that proactively identify supply chain bottlenecks, optimize manufacturing schedules, and synthesize engineering reports using AI.
• Scale to millions of data points — Build hyper-performance pipelines tracking everything from individual spacecraft components to company-wide OKRs.
• Universal Automation Platform — Create internal APIs that let any Turion team add AI capabilities to their specific workflows, making autonomous operations the company standard.

The Aerospace Operating System

• Build the end-to-end platform powering Turion's internal operations and manufacturing lines.
• Design APIs for internal data tasking that let engineers request operational insights as easily as calling an Uber.
• Architect data lakes and processing systems that handle terabytes of manufacturing, test, and enterprise data daily.
• Build the Stripe/AWS of our internal operations—the platform every Turion team will use to execute their mission.

Your Mission: Lead the engineering effort to transform how a modern space company operates. You'll own the full stack—from data-dense React interfaces that operators love, to distributed systems processing enterprise data, to AI integrations that make the business fundamentally smarter. Your code will literally accelerate how fast we can design, build, and launch spacecraft, expanding human presence beyond Earth.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the software engineering process from concept to production systems, setting technical direction for the products that operate the enterprise.
• Mentor and guide a team of engineers building the most critical internal tools for a rapidly scaling space company.
• Engage with hardware engineers, supply chain managers, and executives to understand their needs, turning operational bottlenecks into elegant, AI-driven software solutions.
• Architect business-critical systems including Hyperdrive, AI inference platforms, and enterprise data pipelines.
• Build and maintain APIs that let any internal developer integrate enterprise data into their specific applications.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams including Ground Software, Flight Software, Hardware, and Finance.
• Drive architectural decisions for enterprise systems that must scale rapidly and remain highly reliable.
• Deliver solutions that simplify complex operations, making aerospace manufacturing and business logic as intuitive as deploying to AWS.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 7+ years of software development experience, with a track record of leading projects or teams.
• Expertise in full-stack development and proven ability to design, build, and test complex, data-heavy systems.
• Experience with cloud-native architectures, microservices, and distributed systems.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Proficiency in Go, Python, or JavaScript/TypeScript, with strong API development experience.
• Experience integrating LLMs, AI agents, or modern machine learning tools into production applications.
• PostgreSQL, Snowflake, or data warehouse expertise—our enterprise generates a massive amount of operational data.
• Advanced React knowledge for building rich, complex single-page applications and dashboards.
• Kubernetes experience.
• Experience deploying applications on Azure or AWS.
• Experience with data engineering, ETL pipelines, and real-time processing.
• Passion for space exploration and building humanity's future beyond Earth.

Staff Software Engineer-Enterprise Tech: $180,000-$231,000

ITAR Requirements:

This position may include access to technology and/or software source code that is subject to U.S. export controls. To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Benefits:
We offer a comprehensive compensation and benefits package designed to support the well-being and professional growth of our employees. In addition to a competitive base salary and company stock, determined by factors such as job-related knowledge, education, skills, experience, and market demand, full-time employees are eligible for:

• Equity: Receive equity in Turion Space, letting you benefit from the company's success

• Health Insurance: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and their dependents.

• Retirement Plans: Access to a 401(k) plan with a 3% Employer Direct Contribution to help you plan for your future.

• Paid Time Off: Generous vacation days, personal days, sick days, and holidays to ensure you have time to recharge.

• Parental Leave: Paid parental leave following the birth of a newborn or adoption.

• Emotional Wellbeing: A no-cost Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to support you and your household’s emotional health and wellbeing.

• Professional Development: Opportunities for ongoing internal training, workshops, and courses to advance your skills and career growth.

• Team Building Activities: Regular social events, team outings, and company-sponsored activities to foster a positive work environment.

We are dedicated to providing a supportive and enriching environment for our team members, recognizing that our collective success is built upon the well-being and satisfaction of each individual.

Turion Space is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Turion Space is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

Compensation Range: $180K - $231K