This is a future role. We're building a shortlist now and will contact you when it opens.
About us
Foundational is building the most precise picture of Earth and orbit, using lasers fired from the ground. We call it ground truth for orbit.
We design and run low-cost, autonomous satellite laser ranging stations. They measure the distance to satellites with extreme precision, day and night. Our data platform turns those measurements into tracking data and orbit products for satellite operators, space agencies and governments. We also build our own flight-proven laser retroreflector arrays, so any satellite can be tracked.
Our station network is expanding across Europe, South America, Africa and Australia. The data supports resilient navigation, Earth observation and the safe, sustainable use of space.
We're a small, fast-moving team of engineers, scientists and operators in London. We're backed by venture investors and supported by ESA, the UK Space Agency, Innovate UK and the European Innovation Council.
Position Overview
London · Full time · On-site
Our stations run autonomously, and you'll make sure the network does too. You'll monitor stations, respond to faults, and build the tools and processes for our network operations centre.
What you'll do
Monitor station health, tracking and data delivery across the network
Triage faults, and coordinate fixes with field engineers and host sites
Build dashboards, alerting and runbooks
Track network performance and report it to the team and to customers
Help plan tracking schedules against customer commitments
Help shape on-call and shift cover as the network grows across time zones
What you'll bring
Operations experience with ground stations, observatories, telecoms networks or similar
Scripting skills (Python, Bash) and Linux experience
Experience with monitoring tools such as Grafana or Prometheus
Clear communication under pressure
Nice to have
Satellite operations or satellite laser ranging
Networking and secure remote access
Experience setting up a network operations centre
What We Offer
A high-impact role with real ownership at an early-stage, venture-backed spacetech company
EMI share options (UK employees)
25 Days Annual Leave + Bank Holidays
Enhanced Parental Leave
Cycle to work schemes
Work alongside engineers and scientists across optics, lasers, software and astrodynamics
Offices in central London, with snacks, tea, coffee and regular socials
We actively champion underrepresented groups and seek to bridge gaps in our workforce. If you're excited by the role but don't match every point, or you’re seeking a part time role, please apply anyway and add a note into your application. Building the best team is our priority.
Skills Required
- Operations experience with ground stations, observatories, telecoms networks, or similar environments
- Scripting skills in Python and Bash
- Linux experience
- Experience with monitoring tools such as Grafana or Prometheus
- Clear communication under pressure
- Satellite operations or satellite laser ranging experience
- Networking and secure remote access experience
- Experience setting up a network operations centre
What We Do
We're an early-stage, mission-driven startup tackling one of the most exciting and complex challenges today to create the most precise understanding of space and earth using ground-based lasers. Using satellite laser ranging (SLR) data we are empowering the next generation of space companies with exquisite data that allows new forms of resilient navigation, earth observation and precise space traffic control - essential for the sustainability and resilience of the space domain, resilient navigation an the future of earth observation.
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