IT Systems Engineer

About Northwood:

Northwood is on a mission to transform connectivity between earth and space and bring the benefits of space to the masses through innovations in space communications technologies. If you like building quickly and seeing your work deployed in locations around the globe with real impact, we want you at Northwood.

Role:

Northwood Space is seeking an IT Systems Engineer to architect and automate our IT infrastructure from the ground up. As our first IT engineering hire, you'll eliminate toil through automation, build scalable systems for a rapidly growing aerospace company, and work closely with our Security and Infrastructure teams to ensure robust, secure operations.

This is a hybrid role where you'll balance automation work with hands-on IT operations - from coding (language of your choice; preferably Terraform) to setting up new hire workstations and troubleshooting A/V systems. As we scale, you'll progressively automate away the manual tasks while building the foundation for enterprise-grade IT operations. If you've ever wanted to terraform an entire company's IT stack instead of clicking through admin panels, this is your role.

Responsibilities:

• Design and implement Infrastructure as Code for identity management (Okta), device management (Intune/Jamf/FleetDM), and SaaS administration using Terraform, Python, or similar tools

• Partner with Security Engineering to implement and maintain endpoint detection/response (CrowdStrike/SentinelOne), email security (Proofpoint/Mimecast), and zero-trust architecture

• Develop self-service tools and Slack bots to eliminate common IT requests (password resets, access requests, software installations)

• Provide hands-on IT support including new hire setup, desk deployment, A/V troubleshooting, and asset management while building automation to eliminate these manual tasks over time

• Maintain and monitor hybrid infrastructure including on-premise servers, networking equipment, and cloud services through automated alerting and remediation

• Create API integrations between Microsoft 365, Okta, Atlassian Cloud, Slack, and other core services

• Document systems architecture and runbooks (as code where possible)

• Handle escalations that genuinely require human intervention while continuously reducing that surface area

Basic Qualifications:

• 3+ years automating IT infrastructure and writing production code (Python, Go, PowerShell, or similar)

• Demonstrated experience with Infrastructure as Code tools (Terraform, Pulumi, CloudFormation)

• Strong background in identity providers and SSO/SAML (Okta, Auth0, or Azure AD)

• Experience with endpoint security platforms and security operations workflows

• Proven track record of automating employee lifecycle management and access controls

• API-first mindset with experience integrating SaaS platforms programmatically

• Experience managing Windows, macOS, and Linux systems at scale

• Must be able to work on-site in Torrance, CA

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in aerospace, defense, or other regulated industries

• Background in DevOps/SRE with understanding of CI/CD pipelines

• Familiarity with compliance frameworks (SOC2, CMMC, ITAR)

• Experience with configuration management (Ansible, Puppet, Chef)

• Knowledge of network automation and software-defined networking

• Contributions to open-source IT automation tools

• Experience scaling IT operations from startup to enterprise

Additional Information:

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you 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.

Northwood is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Northwood is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.