Senior Software Engineer & Team Lead

D-Orbit is looking for a Senior Software Engineer & Team Lead to join our Cybersecurity Business Unit, based in Lisboa, Portugal.

In this role, you will provide technical leadership and strategic guidance to the development of secure, scalable, and high-quality software solutions that support D-Orbit’s mission and long-term business objectives. You will work closely with Product, Technology, Engineering, QA, DevOps, and external stakeholders, contributing to the successful delivery of innovative products, strong engineering excellence, and sustainable team growth.

Key Responsibilities & Tasks:

• Technical Direction & Architecture: Work closely with the Heads of Product and Technology to translate high-level architectural decisions into detailed implementation plans, making design and architecture choices that align with both project requirements and company software guidelines and standards.

• Continuous Improvement & Hands-On Contribution: Actively contribute to the implementation of critical features while continuously identifying opportunities to improve processes, workflows, and tooling, introducing new technologies where they deliver tangible impact.

• Code Quality & Engineering Practices: Oversee code reviews and enforce best practices across secure coding, testing, and CI/CD pipelines, ensuring consistent quality and streamlined deployments. Proactively identify technical blockers and provide hands-on support to resolve them, keeping the team moving forward.

• Team Leadership & Growth: Lead and mentor a small, focused security engineering team with a hands-on approach, fostering a collaborative culture that scales naturally as new talent joins and the team grows.

• Development Coordination & Delivery: Lead end-to-end delivery of complex projects across the full software development lifecycle (from planning and bid preparation through design, execution, and deployment). Drive Agile/Scrum processes, monitor risks, dependencies, and constraints, and coordinate mitigation efforts across teams. Serve as the primary technical interface with customers, partners, and regulatory bodies, fostering transparent and collaborative relationships throughout the project lifecycle.

• Cross-Team Collaboration: Collaborate across engineering, product, QA, DevOps, and business development teams, within the BU and across the wider organization, to ensure strategic alignment, clear communication, and a coherent technical direction from development through to market positioning.

Requirements:

• Experience: Extensive experience in software development and architecture design (approximately 5 years), including a proven track record of successfully delivering complex projects in time and within budget. Focus on Python language is strongly preferred.

• Education: Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent professional experience).

• Microservices & Architecture: Deep understanding of system design and architecture, particularly with microservice architectures, and the ability to make decisions that ensure scalability and reliability.

• DevOps & CI/CD: Hands-on experience with modern DevOps best practices – including version control, automated testing, and CI/CD pipelines – to accelerate development and deployment cycles.

• Containerization: Proficiency with containerization and container orchestration tools, especially Docker and Kubernetes, for building and managing scalable applications.

• Cloud: Experience deploying and running applications on AWS (or similar cloud platforms).

• Linux: Strong knowledge of Linux/UNIX environments.

• Leadership, Communication & Agile Mindset: Strong leader and communicator, able to mentor engineers, bridge technical and non-technical audiences, and run Agile/Scrum processes end-to-end. Pragmatic problem-solver with the foresight to anticipate risks and make sound decisions under uncertainty.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Continuous Learning: Actively keeps up with emerging technologies and industry trends; contributions to open-source projects, community involvement, or recent training are a plus.

• Cybersecurity Domain Knowledge: Solid background in cybersecurity, including secure coding, threat modeling, and monitoring. Familiarity with common security frameworks and standards is valued.

• Space Domain Knowledge: Familiarity with ECSS standards (E40, Q80, M10), satellite communication protocols, encryption, and key management. Experience with ESA or EC projects and standard PM tools is a plus.

Additional Benefits

• Meal vouchers

• Variable compensation

• Wellhub platform, offering a wide range of fitness, wellness, and wellbeing services

• Serenis platform, including unlimited individual psychotherapy, nutrition, and coaching sessions

• Flexible working arrangements, including smart working options and flexible scheduling based on role and team requirements

Who we are? Are you ready to take your career to new heights? At D-Orbit, we're pioneering the future of space logistics and transportation. Established in 2011, our company has been at the forefront of helping businesses unlock the full potential of the final frontier—profitably and sustainably.

As a member of our team, you'll have the opportunity to work alongside a diverse group of highly skilled individuals, all driven by a shared passion for innovation and excellence. So, if you are passionate about space and ready to take your ambition to new heights, join us in our global mission to push the boundaries of what's possible!

D-Orbit is part of a broader group that also includes Planetek, bringing together complementary expertise in space logistics, Earth observation, geospatial solutions, and advanced space services. Together, we share a common ambition: to enable innovative, sustainable, and high-impact solutions across the space sector.

Why join D-Orbit?

• Work on missions that shape the future of space

• International and multidisciplinary environment

• Flexible working model

• Opportunity to contribute directly to company growth

• High level of autonomy and ownership

Hiring Process: Here’s how our hiring process works—simple and straightforward:

• Application Review – We carefully review applications that match the key requirements of the role. If your profile is selected for the next stage, a member of our People & Culture team will contact you directly. We genuinely appreciate every application, even when there is not a match for the current opportunity.

• Introduction Call – A conversation with the People & Culture team to get to know each other, discuss the opportunity, and align expectations.

• Technical and Team Interviews – One or more interviews focused on the skills, experience, and approach relevant to the role.

• Offer – If there is a strong mutual fit, we will share an offer and discuss the next steps.

The exact process may vary depending on the role.

We aim to keep candidates informed throughout the process and appreciate your patience as we carefully evaluate applications.

We’re excited to get to know you and see if you might be the next person to help us shaping the future of space!

NON-EU applicants:

At this time, we can only consider candidates who already have the legal right to work in the country where the position is based.

Please note that this role requires a regular on-site presence and is not a fully remote position.

Some activities must be carried out in our facilities, many others are location-independent, and they can be performed effectively even remotely. This is why we don't measure the performance of people by how many hours they spend at the office: we only measure the outcome.

At D-Orbit, diversity and inclusivity are not just values, they are integral to our mission and the way we operate. We are committed to fostering an environment where all individuals are respected, valued, and celebrated for their unique backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences. We believe that a diverse and inclusive workplace is not only the right thing to do, but it also leads to better decision making, innovation, and overall success. We actively strive to build a culture where everyone can bring their authentic selves to work, and where all voices are heard and valued. We are dedicated to creating a workplace where everyone feels safe, supported, and empowered to share their ideas, and where everyone is given equal opportunities to grow and excel. We believe that our differences make us stronger, and we will continue to work diligently to create an inclusive culture at D-Orbit that reflects this belief.