ground software engineer, lead — relativity space
C++ and Go for systems that run rocket engine tests.
00 / interests
01 / work
2026 —
Ground Software Engineer, Lead
Leads the full-stack Platform group; 4 reports, still shipping.
- Leading Ground Software's full-stack Platform group focusing on user experience, user-led system management, and platform deployment infrastructure for a safety-critical control software environment
- Rescoped and shipped an MVP Go/gRPC overhaul for C++ configuration deployment and state management functionality in 4 weeks after direct operator interviews revealed it as a high-priority unmet need, then iterating to full delivery
- Overseeing 4 direct reports while continuing all previous IC duties
2024 — 2026
Senior Ground Software Engineer
Sub-millisecond C++23 control services. Kubernetes IaC across 20+ environments. Bazel + GitLab CI, 20 min → 5.
- Built and maintained full-stack low-latency Linux data acquisition and control services in a modern C++ distributed pub/sub architecture, achieving sub-millisecond control authority (C++23, DDS)
- Co-owned Kubernetes deployment infrastructure-as-code across 20+ independent edge (K0s) and bare-metal environments, migrating critical systemd services to enable automatic restarts, controlled rollouts, and improved operational resilience
- Built and rolled out a Bazel-based remote-cache friendly application configuration framework used by 100+ semi-technical operators and re-architected GitLab CI pipelines, cutting median execution time from 20 to 5 min
2023 — 2024
Ground Software Engineer II
Internal PaaS for 100+ bare-metal hosts, end to end: Go, gRPC, Helm, React/TypeScript.
- Architected and delivered a full-stack internal platform-as-a-service for provisioning, upgrading, configuring, and monitoring 100+ bare-metal hosts and industrial PCs across multiple geographic locations
- Built the full application layer: REST/gRPC APIs, database schemas, OpenTelemetry observability dashboards, and a React/TypeScript front-end, giving 30+ power-user operators a unified interface for managing their ground systems at scale
- Refactored a performance-critical C++ service from a blocking multithreaded model to an event-driven architecture using Boost.Asio, reducing contention and improving responsiveness under load
2021 — 2023
Ground Software Engineer I
Operator tooling in Ignition SCADA; live support through test and launch ops.
- Built tooling for operators to facilitate creation of custom GUIs in the Ignition SCADA, enabling 30+ operators across 3 sites to tailor daily operational uses to their own needs
- Supported operators during high-stakes test and launch operations with real-time support, rapidly diagnosing issues and safely patching live systems when necessary
click any row for detail · full detail → resume.pdf
02 / before
2020
intern
NASA Glenn Research Center
SWE intern, electrified aircraft propulsion.
2018, 2019
intern
Clover Network
SWE intern, backend then frontend.
2021
B.S. ×2
Rowan University
B.S. Computer Science, B.S. Mechanical Engineering. Honors concentration, math minor.
03 / homelab
3-node k8s cluster running on refurb SFFs, local OAuth+OIDC, GitOps via Flux, fully reproducible via NixOps down to the disk. same discipline as the day job, lower stakes, considerably worse hardware.
more → homelab.brianchesko.dev ↗