Director, Cloud Infrastructure

Wanna join the adventure?
Loft Orbital builds a space infrastructure providing a fast & simple path to orbit. We operate satellites, fly customer payloads onboard, and handle the entire mission from initial concept through in-orbit operations, significantly reducing the lead-time and risk of a traditional space mission.  As part of the cloud infrastructure team, you will be responsible for keeping our ground segment infrastructure reliable, scalable, and maintainable. You’ll work on cutting-edge technology and help build a modern, automated space infrastructure.
Today, Loft has a high performing Site Reliability Engineering team, and we are looking to further expand the scope of Cloud Infrastructure at Loft, to grow the team and expand its charter. Loft Orbital is seeking a Director, Cloud Infrastructure to lead the newly-expanded Cloud Infrastructure team. In this role, you will be responsible for the development and operation of our cloud-based infrastructure, ensuring scalability, security, and efficiency. You will drive innovation in cloud automation, Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC), and CI/CD pipelines to support our mission of simplifying space access.
*Research shows that while men apply to jobs where they meet an average of 60% of the criteria, women and other marginalized people tend to only apply when they meet 100% of the qualifications. At Loft, we value respectful debate and people who aren’t afraid to challenge assumptions.  We strongly encourage you to apply, even if you don’t ‘check all the boxes.

About This Role:

• Lead and develop a high performing team of Cloud engineers, fostering a culture of high performance, collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• Defining and executing a strategic vision and roadmap for Loft Orbital’s cloud infrastructure, ensuring alignment with business goals.
• Overseeing the design, deployment, and maintenance of public-cloud solutions (AWS, Azure, GCP) to optimize performance, reliability, and cost.
• Championing further adoption of best practices in cloud engineering, such as deployment automation and Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC)
• Leading automation initiatives to enhance deployment, monitoring, and incident response processes.
• Collaborating cross-functionally with software, security, and hardware teams to enhance our platform’s reliability and scalability.
• Optimizing cloud usage and costs by implementing effective cost-management practices, and budgeting to align with company objectives.
• Ensuring adherence to SRE best practices, including observability, alerting, disaster recovery, and incident management frameworks.
• Leveraging Agile methodologies for infrastructure project planning and execution.
• Mentor and develop team members, focusing on skills advancement, career growth, and knowledge sharing.

Must Haves:

• Proven people management experience, with an emphasis on developing talent and fostering a high-performing, collaborative culture.
• Expertise in cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), CI/CD-driven development, and release management.
• Strong experience with Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) using Terraform or similar tools.
• Deep knowledge of containerization, container management, and orchestration tools (e.g., Kubernetes, Docker).
• Strong understanding of automation principles and experience implementing automated deployment pipelines.
• Ability to work cross-functionally with diverse technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Experience leading Agile teams and driving Agile project delivery.
• Proficiency in cloud cost estimation and optimization.
• Familiarity with observability stacks (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana) and best practices in incident management and SRE methodologies.

Nice to Haves:

• Strong security knowledge in cloud infrastructure and best practices for secure deployments.
• Experience in compliance frameworks
• Hands-on software development experience in Python, Go, or similar languages.
• Experience working with hybrid cloud and on-premises infrastructure solutions.

Some of Our Awesome Benefits:

• 100% company-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance option for employees and dependents
• Flexible Spending (FSA) and Health Savings (HSA) Accounts offered with an employer contribution to the HSA
• 100% employer paid Life, AD&D, Short-Term, and Long-Term Disability insurance
• Flexible Time Off policy for vacation and sick leave, and 12 paid holidays
• 401(k) plan and equity options
• Daily catered lunches and snacks
• International exposure to our team in France
• Fully paid parental leave; 14 weeks for primary caregiver and 10 weeks for secondary caregiver
• Carrot Fertility provide