Ground Segment DevOps Engineer

At ClearSpace, we believe in reusability, in affordability driving disruption, and that no progress is real unless it is sustainable.

Our company was founded in 2018 out of the realization that in-orbit servicing and space debris removal are vital services for the future of space exploration and operations. Today ClearSpace has assembled an expert engineering team and is leading the way toward sustainable space operations. From a garage in Switzerland, we now operate across UK and Europe, and are working with world-leading institutions and companies to bring our dream of a sustainable space ecosystem to life.

We are looking for a Ground Segment DevOps Engineer to join ClearSpace. Our Ground Segment Team provide the digital backbone that enables safe, reliable, and autonomous space operations. As part of this team, you’ll play a pivotal role in designing, building, and operating the infrastructure that supports mission‑critical services — from development all the way through to live operations in space.

The Role

You’ll take ownership of our CI/CD toolchain and container-based infrastructure, ensuring Ground Segment software is deployed seamlessly, reliably, and at scale. Working at the intersection of software engineering and operations, you’ll define robust deployment strategies, lead operational maintenance activities, and help shape how our systems are monitored, orchestrated, and evolved over their full lifecycle.

Responsibilities

•    Expand and maintain the CI/CD toolchain, ensuring efficient, automated build, test, and deployment workflows for Ground Segment services.
•    Manage and improve container-based infrastructure using technologies such as Docker, Portainer, Harbor, and related orchestration tools.
•    Define and implement deployment procedures for Ground Segment software, including versioning, rollback strategies, and operational readiness workflows.
•    Lead operational software maintenance processes, ensuring continuous availability and smooth operation of Ground Segment components.
•    Design and deploy Mission Support System (MSS) tooling, including: 
o    Automated deployment of operational products
o    Centralised logging and monitoring
o    System lifecycle orchestration
•    Collaborate with development and operations teams to ensure cohesive integration between mission-critical services.
•    OPTIONAL / NICE TO HAVE: Support schema design or configuration for SQL and NoSQL database systems used within Ground Segment architectures.

Must Have
•    Proven experience with Docker based environments, registry management (e.g., Harbor), and container lifecycle operations.
•    Hands on experience with DevOps pipelines (GitLab CI/CD, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, etc.).
•    Strong understanding of Linux environments, shell scripting, and system automation.
•    Knowledge of networking fundamentals relevant to distributed systems (such as DNS, NFS etc.)
•    Strong documentation and configuration management discipline.

Nice to have
•    Experience with SQL database administration or optimisation.
•    Familiarity with mission operations, satellite ground systems, or aerospace software.
•    Exposure to infrastructure as code (Terraform) or monitoring stacks (Grafana).

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