Staff Software Engineer

About Urban Sky:  Urban Sky is a venture-backed aerospace startup that pioneers utilization of the stratosphere and reimagines the way humans view and analyze the earth. We design, build, operate, and sell stratospheric balloon systems, and the data we collect supports a wide range of applications, from real-time wildfire monitoring to urban mapping. Our technology is also employed by government customers including the Department of Defense (DoD), NASA, and others. Urban Sky sends flight vehicles to the stratosphere on a weekly basis.  Our team consists of engineers, makers, developers, and doers who believe in the power of human potential when passion meets utility within a small, supportive team. At Urban Sky we strive to create a team culture grounded in candor, inclusion, respect and empowerment.  We aim to build the next chapter of stratospheric history in Denver and are seeking self-starting, open-minded, and hard-working team members.  About The Role:   We're looking for a Staff Software Engineer who wants real ownership in a fast-moving environment.  You'll help design, build, deploy, and operate the software that runs Urban Sky's manufacturing operation—a full-stack MRP system that tracks inventory, work orders, bills of materials, quality holds, and serialized parts from receiving through final integration. It's the operational backbone of how we actually build balloons. Because the company is growing quickly, the scope of the role will evolve over time, and you'll have meaningful influence over what we build next and how we build it.  You'll work shoulder-to-shoulder with the people using the software every day—manufacturing technicians, logistics coordinators, quality inspectors, and finance. There's no product manager between you and them. You'll learn how parts flow through the building, what makes a quarantine workflow painful at 3pm on a Friday, and how a missed traceability record turns into a compliance problem. Translating messy physical processes into clean software is most of the job.  The interfaces you build are for operators, not consumers. A shop-floor tech holding a tablet, scanning a barcode, working through a multi-step assembly procedure—that's your user. Touch targets, scanner integration, and drag-and-drop work instructions matter more than landing-page polish.  We operate in an aerospace-regulated environment (AS9100). Every mutation needs an audit trail. Serialized parts need end-to-end traceability. "Move fast and break things" doesn't apply to production data. We still move fast—but with the discipline that comes from knowing a corrupted record can ground a flight.  You don't need prior MRP or manufacturing experience. You do need to be excited—or at least not intimidated—by learning a complex business domain alongside the code.  If you enjoy small teams and solving ambiguous problems, this role is likely a great fit.  What You'll Do   Our overall software team is roughly 7 people, and this team will be just 2 people, everyone works across the stack. That's not aspirational—it's required. A small team with real ownership only works if everyone can contribute quickly and adapt as the company and product evolve.  Senior engineers here build trust by shipping early and expanding their scope through demonstrated ownership.  What we need you to do right away We expect senior engineers to become productive almost immediately.  In your first days and weeks, you will:  Set up your environment and start committing code within your first day or two  Learn existing systems by improving them, not by watching from the sidelines  Fix bugs, tighten rough edges, and ship small enhancements to production  Participate in deployments, debugging, and operational workflows  Use AI tools from the start to understand the codebase and accelerate contributions  Ask questions, propose improvements, and engage in technical decisions  You won't be waiting for a long ramp period.  You'll build context by doing real work that ships.  What you will grow quickly into As you gain context, scope expands fast.  Within your first couple of months, you'll be expected to:  Own meaningful areas of our stack across backend, frontend, and infrastructure  Lead design and implementation of projects that may span quarters  Make architectural decisions with an eye toward reliability, operability, and future change  Work directly with operators and stakeholders—often non-engineers—to refine solutions  Drive systems from concept → implementation → production → iteration → support  Continuously simplify, improve, and evolve what you own  Help the team move faster by raising technical quality and reducing friction  By this point, you're not just contributing—you're a primary owner.  There are no lanes to stay in and no handoffs to hide behind.  If something feels confusing to an operator, that's an engineering problem.  If a system is brittle, slow, or overbuilt, that's an engineering problem.  If a workflow on the shop floor doesn't match the software, that's an engineering problem.  If requirements change mid-stream, that's reality—and adapting thoughtfully is part of the job.  If AI-generated code is messy, that's also an engineering problem.  You'll own systems end-to-end, from design through production and long-term maintenance—even as those systems evolve.  Our engineering principles  These principles guide how we build systems in a fast-moving, real-world environment.  Design for operations, not just implementation  Software doesn't stop at merge. We design systems that can be deployed, monitored, debugged, and safely operated under changing constraints.  Favor simple, adaptable systems  Clarity beats cleverness—especially when systems need to change quickly.  Own the full lifecycle  Engineers are responsible for their systems from design through production, operational support, and ongoin