Senior IT Engineer

Cowboy Space Corp. is building the infrastructure to power and connect the orbital economy. Our satellites operate in Low Earth Orbit to collect sunlight and unlock a new class of capabilities: powering on-orbit compute, transmitting energy over infrared lasers between space and Earth and between spacecraft, and moving secure, high-bandwidth optical data. By rethinking how energy and information are produced and shared in orbit, we're opening up new ways to operate both in space and on the ground.

Founded in 2024 by Baiju Bhatt, co-founder of Robinhood, Cowboy Space Corp. is backed by leading investors and staffed by people who come from the strongest aerospace and defense organizations. We move fast, take on hard technical problems, and are standing up a new category of space infrastructure.

The Role

As a Senior IT Engineer at Cowboy Space Corp., you'll architect, manage, and secure the systems our company runs on, including the devices, identity, networks, and cloud infrastructure that keep everyone productive in a tightly regulated, ITAR/EAR environment. It's a senior, hands-on role focused on strengthening our infrastructure, tightening security controls, and delivering scalable solutions for the tools and workflows people depend on every day, together with the automation that connects it all across on-premises and cloud deployments.

You'll own this surface end to end, designing zero-trust compliance policies, building automation at scale, provisioning cloud infrastructure as code, and holding the line on security baselines and export-control requirements. As our first dedicated IT engineer in Seattle, you'll work shoulder to shoulder with our IT lead, our managed service provider (MSP), and the Security, Compliance, and Infrastructure teams, and you'll lead the initiatives that keep our infrastructure a step ahead of how fast the company is growing.

Responsibilities

• Manage and harden our GCC High environment, owning identity, tenant configuration, and the compliance controls that come with operating in government cloud

• Own the design and operation of our IT systems end to end, managing and configuring device management and conditional-access controls (Intune, PSSO, Entra) that keep Windows, macOS, and iOS hardware compliant and aligned with zero-trust principles across both cloud and on-premises deployments

• Keep our core IT infrastructure reliable and available, including VDI, directory services, identity and authentication, collaboration tooling, and the SaaS platforms the team runs on day to day

• Build and run the network backbone for a growing office and lab, handling addressing, segmentation, routing, firewalls, and remote access across on-prem and cloud footprints

• Provision and manage cloud infrastructure using infrastructure-as-code, applying sound networking and security practices from the start rather than bolting them on later

• Write and maintain automation that removes manual toil across onboarding, configuration, patching, remediation, and reporting, primarily in Python, PowerShell, Bash, and AppleScript, and packaged as reusable, production-grade tooling

• Wire endpoint and infrastructure telemetry into the SIEM and maintain the controls that keep us audit-ready, including CIS-aligned baselines, compliance dashboards, and the device, configuration, and data-handling requirements that ITAR and EAR demand

• Partner with Security, Compliance, and Infrastructure teams on endpoint and infrastructure standards, carry systems through audits, keep documentation and runbooks current, and act as the senior escalation point above our MSP

Basic Qualifications

• A Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a comparable technical field plus 7+ years of relevant IT experience

• Real experience running Microsoft 365 inside a GCC High (Government Community Cloud High) tenant

• Depth managing Apple macOS and iOS at enterprise scale alongside Windows 11 and Windows Server

• Strong networking chops spanning on-prem and cloud, comfortable with addressing, DNS, segmentation, routing, firewalls, and remote access

• A track record standing up and operating infrastructure in both on-premises and cloud environments

• Hands-on experience putting security controls and compliance frameworks in place where the rules actually matter

Preferred Qualifications

Cloud & Infrastructure

• Solid command of at least one major cloud (AWS preferred; Google Cloud or Azure welcome), including how its networking and security building blocks fit together, such as VPC design, EC2, security groups, transit gateways, and route tables

• Deep Linux systems experience, comfortable across systemd, networkd, Netplan, iptables, SSH, and Docker

• Hands-on with site-to-site and remote-access VPN, including IPsec

• A working grasp of cryptography and infrastructure security fundamentals, including PKI, IPsec, FIPS compliance requirements, IAM, and CI/CD security

Scripting, Automation & Identity

• Genuine skill writing automations in Python, including serverless functions on AWS Lambda or Google Cloud Functions, and maintaining them as real production code

• Depth in identity and user lifecycle management, covering provisioning, SCIM integrations, and access governance with Okta, Entra, or similar

• Hands-on integration of endpoint and infrastructure data into a SIEM or analytics stack such as Sentinel or Splunk for reporting and operational visibility

Compliance, Leadership & Communication

• Direct experience implementing CIS benchmarks and working under ITAR/EAR controls

• Familiarity with government compliance and security frameworks such as FedRAMP, NIST 800-171, CMMC L2 and L3

• A history of leading cross-functional projects and driving results through external partners such as MSPs

• Clear and confident communication skills

• Strong analytical instincts, a bias toward ownership, and a habit of seeing complex projects through from idea to documented, running system

Additional Requirements

• Willing to jump in for after-hours or weekend work

• Willing to travel domestically

• At ease operating mission-critical, sensitive systems within a tightly regulated environment

The salary range for this position is $135,000 – $,175,000 annually. The actual base salary offered will depend on factors such as job-related skills, experience, qualifications, and internal equity.

• Equity in Cowboy Space Corp.

• Employees and their eligible dependents may enroll in medical, dental, and vision insurance

• 401(k) retirement savings plan

• Paid time off

• 10 paid holidays per calendar year

• Paid parental leave

• Relocation assistance if applicable

• Daily lunch in the office and a fully stocked kitchen with beverages and snacks

ITAR Requirements

• Export Control Requirement: To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), applicants 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. Learn more about ITAR here.

Disclaimer

This job description is a summary of the primary duties and responsibilities of the job and position. It is not intended to be a comprehensive or all-inclusive listing of duties and responsibilities. Contents are subject to change at Cowboy Space Corp.’s discretion.

Cowboy Space Corp. is an equal employment opportunity employer. We consider individuals for employment or promotion according to their skills, abilities and experience. Cowboy Space Corp. is committed to complying with all applicable laws prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religious creed, age, national origin, ancestry, physical, mental or developmental disability, sex (which includes pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding and medical conditions relating to pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding), veteran status, military status, marital or registered domestic partnership status, medical condition (including cancer or genetic characteristics), genetic information, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, as well as any other category protected by federal, state or local laws.