Senior Staff Software Engineer - Fullstack at CesiumAstro
Westminster
$184,000–$225,000
Aug 18, 2026
Westminster
Sep 24, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A full-stack software engineering role at a space and airborne communications company, focused on building and modernizing mission systems for DoD and Intelligence Community space programs. Day-to-day work spans distributed microservices, cloud-native architectures, DevSecOps pipelines, and UI/UX for mission operators, with involvement in ground and on-orbit integration and test. Suits an experienced engineer comfortable with classified environments and space-domain software.
Senior level · 12+ years · Austin, TX · Bachelor's required · Secret clearance · Full-time
Pay in the description: $184,000–$225,000
Advertised as Staff, but the requirements read as Senior.
Quick apply — this platform usually takes a CV and a few fields.
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
Posted 3 times — it's one opening, so apply once.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $137,069 (middle half $106,287–$172,440). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Aug 20, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (9)
The posting lists C++, C#, Rust, Python, and Go as a single 'experience with one of' requirement under the required qualifications section. They are emitted as separate required skills with each other as alternatives, since the JD gates on proficiency in at least one.
Similarly, SQL and NoSQL are listed together as a single database requirement; emitted as separate required skills with each other as alternatives.
AWS, Azure, and GovCloud variants are listed together as a single cloud requirement; AWS and Azure are emitted as required with each other (and GovCloud) as alternatives. GovCloud is a deployment variant rather than a distinct platform and is captured in the alternatives prose.
Microservices architecture is explicitly required ('Experience architecting microservices, APIs, message buses…'); APIs and message buses are generic architectural concepts rather than named tools and are omitted per the skills rules.
DevSecOps appears in both the required section ('Implement DevSecOps pipelines') and the preferred section ('Experience with DevSecOps, IaC, and automated test frameworks'). It is marked preferred here because the required-section mention describes a job duty rather than a candidate gate, and the explicit candidate-gate language appears only under Preferred.
The posting titles the role 'Staff Software Engineer' but the actual scope — 12+ years, technical leadership, mentoring, no indication of cross-team org-wide authority — is consistent with a Senior individual contributor. Advertised seniority reflects the title; assessed seniority reflects the requirements.
The hard clearance gate is Secret (ability to obtain); TS/SCI is listed only as a preferred existing clearance.
CesiumAstro is headquartered in Austin, TX; the posting does not specify a city but the company's known location is used for the metro. No remote work is indicated.
Requires a Secret clearance — the cleared population is a small fraction of this occupation, so the real candidate pool is materially smaller than the estimate below, which does not model clearance.
Read the full posting
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