Software Development Manager

Software Development Manager

At Stoke, we believe a thriving space economy will enable a vibrant, sustainable, and equitable future here on Earth. That is why we're building Nova, our fully and rapidly reusable launch vehicle. Designed for daily flight, Nova tackles the core challenges of space transportation by reducing cost, increasing availability, and improving reliability. By radically lowering launch costs and increasing flight cadence, we're helping create a truly scalable space industry.

Our team is mission-driven, collaborative, and empowered to take ownership of their work. If you want to work alongside some of the most dedicated and talented people on Earth, we'd love to have you join us.

Reusable launch systems are the key to seamlessly connecting Earth and space. An instrumental ingredient to making reusable launch vehicles is the ability to move fast. That is our goal for Boltline by Stoke Space, our commercial software platform that helps advanced hardware manufacturing teams integrate, track, iterate, build, and test efficiently.

As a Software Development Manager on the Boltline by Stoke Space Team, you will lead a team of 6-8 software engineers responsible for a vertical slice of the product. You and your team will accelerate the development of Stoke's reusable rockets. Your responsibilities and activities will cross three boundaries: (1) Product Ownership and Management, (2) People Management and (3) Individual Contributor. You will be the spokesperson for the team, working closely with external stakeholders and technical leaders on the team.

The ideal candidate cares deeply about their team and leads from a place of servitude while driving the team to deliver with quality through repeatable and measurable engineering practices. They embody extreme ownership and have a high degree of autonomy while communicating in a crisp and clear manner.

As a product owner you will be responsible for the backlog and active projects on your team. As a People Manager you will be responsible for the career growth, hiring and firing for your team. As an individual contributor you will be expected to contribute to the code base, fixing bugs, implementing features and performing code reviews.

This is a Hybrid role, requiring at least 3-days a week on-site at Stoke's Kent Headquarters.

Responsibilities

• Manage the backlog and active projects for the team
• Create detailed product requirements and make priority decisions in concert with the strategy of the product team
• Manage your team's software development lifecycle
• Manage individual team members' career growth and development
• Manage headcount, interviewing and hiring for the team
• Contribute production code to the code base, fixing bugs, implementing features and performing code reviews
• Collaborate with Product and Design to understand priority, focus and scope
• Collaborate with Team Technical Leaders to improve the technical architecture, improve quality and reduce technical debt
• Collaborate and contribute to Technical and Operational excellence across all Boltline Engineering teams

Qualifications

• 8 + years professional software development
• Strong IC experience in delivering quality SaaS systems
• Experience in driving product requirements and priority
• Experience managing and leading strongly technical software developers
• Excellent verbal/written communication
• Prior on-call/incident response participation
• Proven ownership of features from design through production

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with modern web development frameworks (ReactJS)
• Experience with building reliable APIs
• Experience with RDBMS
• Familiarity with Next.js or similar meta-frameworks
• DevOps basics (Docker, Kubernetes/ECS, AWS)
• Experience with Apollo (Client/Server), Hasura or similar
• Hands-on CI/CD experience (GitHub Actions, CircleCI, etc.)
• Interest in aerospace, mechanical engineering, and manufacturing workflows

Benefits

• Equity – We know that our employees are the reason we succeed. To give everyone a stake in our future, we are pleased to offer equity in the form of stock options to all regular, full-time employees.
• Comprehensive benefits program including subsidized medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Company-paid life and disability insurance
• 401(k) plan with employer match
• 4 weeks' Paid Time Off
• Holidays – 10 days (including an end-of-year closure)
• Paid Family/Parental Leave
• On-site gym or monthly wellness stipend (depending on location)
• Dog friendly offices!

Compensation

• Level 4 Range: $192,885 - $289,380
• Level 5 Range: $231,525 - $347,235

Our job posts are intentionally written to attract a wide variety of experience levels, and we make decisions about the right fit on a per-candidate basis.

Your actual level and base salary will be decided based on your specific experience and skill level.

ITAR Requirements

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Equal Opportunity

The Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer, including with respect to disability and veteran status. It is committed to compliance with all equal opportunity laws, including the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and Title VII. It does not discriminate on the basis of nationality, race, citizenship, immigration status, or any other protected class when it comes to employment practices, including hiring.

Candidate Rights & Accommodations

If you require a reasonable accommodation to complete the application or participate in the interview process, please contact careers@stokespace.com. Requests will be handled in accordance with applicable laws. Please do not include medical or other confidential information in your initial request.

For more information about your rights, please refer to the "Know Your Rights" notice here.

E-Verify

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