Principal Software Engineer

Job Description – Principal Software Engineer – Space Simulation Platform

Experience: 12+ Years

Salary: ₹40–45 LPA

About Astrome

Astrome Technologies is a Bengaluru-based deep-tech company founded in 2015 and incubated at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). The company specializes in next-generation satellite communications, millimeter-wave wireless technologies, phased-array antennas, software-defined modems, and space communication systems for commercial, telecom, and defense applications. Astrome is developing innovative solutions across Ground, Air, Ocean, and Space connectivity and has been recognized for its work in India's growing space ecosystem.

Company Website: https://astrome.co

Position

Principal Software Engineer – Space Simulation Platform

Job Summary

Astrome is looking for a highly experienced Principal Software Engineer to lead the architecture and development of a next-generation Space Simulation Platform. This is a hands-on technical leadership role requiring expertise in high-performance simulation, distributed systems, scientific computing, backend architecture, HPC infrastructure, and native desktop application development.

The ideal candidate will be the technical authority across the entire platform—owning architecture decisions while actively contributing production-quality code across simulation engines, backend services, scientific data pipelines, and visualization systems.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end software architecture for the Space Simulation Platform.
• Design and develop high-performance numerical simulation software using C++.
• Architect scalable scientific data pipelines for large binary datasets.
• Design APIs and interface contracts between simulation, backend, and desktop applications.
• Build backend services supporting real-time event streaming and HPC job management.
• Design and manage HPC job lifecycle including submission, monitoring, scheduling, and execution.
• Develop scalable REST APIs and asynchronous backend services.
• Mentor engineering teams through design reviews and technical guidance.
• Produce detailed architecture documents and technical specifications.
• Collaborate with simulation, UI, infrastructure, and product teams.

Required Technical Skills

Space Simulation & Astrodynamics

• Orbital Mechanics
• Astrodynamics
• Numerical Orbit Propagation
• Adaptive Step Integrators
• Coordinate Frame Transformations
• Satellite Ephemeris
• Conjunction Analysis
• Spacecraft Dynamics
• Attitude Control
• Quaternion Mathematics
• Sensor & Actuator Modelling
• Atmospheric Drag Models
• Solar Radiation Pressure
• Third Body Perturbation

High-Performance Simulation

• C++ (Strong Mandatory)
• Multithreading
• Parallel Programming
• Memory Optimization
• Cache-friendly Design
• Scientific Computing
• Numerical Algorithms
• HPC Development
• Thread Synchronization
• Performance Optimization

Scientific Data Engineering

• Binary Scientific Data Formats
• Large Time-Series Processing
• Data Pipelines
• Concurrent Data Access
• Incremental Data Storage
• Real-time Computation
• Crash Recovery

Backend Development

• REST APIs
• Async Programming
• Event Streaming
• Server-Sent Events (SSE)
• Authentication & Authorization
• RBAC
• Background Jobs
• PDF Report Generation
• SQLite/PostgreSQL
• Process Management
• Linux Systems Programming

HPC & Linux

• SLURM
• Linux HPC Clusters
• Job Scheduling
• Batch Processing
• Interactive Jobs
• Shared Storage
• Build Systems
• Package Management
• Deployment Automation

Desktop & Graphics

• C++
• Qt
• QML
• OpenGL
• Shader Programming
• 3D Rendering
• Scientific Visualization
• Earth Visualization
• Native Desktop Applications
• OpenGL Performance Optimization

Build & DevOps

• CMake
• GCC/Clang
• Build Automation
• Python Environment Management
• Structured Logging
• Git
• Linux

Desired Experience

• 12+ years in Systems Programming or Scientific Software Engineering.
• Strong experience developing large-scale C++ applications.
• Experience building HPC or simulation platforms.
• Expertise in Linux systems programming.
• Experience with Qt/OpenGL-based desktop applications.
• Strong software architecture and design experience.
• Experience mentoring engineering teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering, Electronics, Mathematics, Physics, or related discipline.
• Experience in Space Technology, Aerospace, Scientific Computing, Defence, or High-Performance Computing.
• Excellent problem-solving and communication skills.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced deep-tech product environment.

Mandatory Skills

• C++
• High-Performance Computing (HPC)
• Scientific Computing
• Orbital Mechanics / Astrodynamics
• Numerical Simulation
• Linux
• Multithreading
• Qt/QML
• OpenGL
• REST APIs
• Async Programming
• SLURM
• Scientific Data Pipelines
• Software Architecture
• HPC Job Scheduling
• Backend Development
• Native Desktop Applications

Good to Have

• Python
• OpenMP
• MPI
• CUDA
• Eigen
• Boost
• SQLite/PostgreSQL
• OpenSceneGraph
• VTK
• Space Mission Simulation
• Satellite Operations
• Aerospace Domain Knowledge