Junior Web Developer

WindBorne Systems is supercharging weather models with a unique proprietary data source: a global constellation of next-generation smart weather balloons targeting the most critical atmospheric data. We design, manufacture, and operate our own balloons, using the data they collect to generate otherwise unattainable weather intelligence.

Our mission is to eliminate weather uncertainty, and in the process help humanity adapt to climate change, be that predicting hurricanes or speeding the adoption of renewables. We are building a future in which the planet is instrumented by thousands of our microballoons, eliminating gaps in our understanding of the planet and giving people and businesses the information they need to make critical decisions. The founding team of Stanford engineers was named Forbes under 30 and is backed by top investors including Khosla Ventures.

You get to do every engineer’s dream—push features for which you are the user. But first you must become the user! Unlike a traditional software engineering role, you will be directly involved in day-to-day meetings and decision-making related to flight automations, navigation and quality control.

WindBorne Systems operates the world's largest constellation of autonomous weather balloons. We achieve full atmospheric coverage by manufacturing balloons at our headquarters in Palo Alto, and launching them from our 10 launch sites across the globe. Importantly, we only find out whether we’re doing a good job when the balloon goes into the air. Although things like the balloon launch process and manufacturing revision systems may not seem directly relevant to flight, they are paramount to understanding flaws in our systems and subsequently propagating those flaws to the appropriate parties. In short, to become the best operations software engineer possible, you need to be armed with context and curiosity.

This is fundamentally an operational role and one of your core responsibilities will be doing operational tasks. This job is not for if you want a chill job, or want to sit in a room by yourself and push code.

To be good at this role, you must be a competent web developer. But to be great, you must be a holistic problem-solver. We capture huge amounts of information about our constellation through downlinked telemetry and our flight database. In this role, you’ll be tackling the challenge of combining said data into a digestible and useful form. This can be through a new process, automation, abstraction, bugfix, quality of life change or even just a meeting. This is an opportunity to not only become a better software engineer, but also a better systems thinker, communicator and designer.

In this role, you’ll be given full ownership of load-bearing and mission-critical systems from day one—and live with the outcomes. If you want to grow fast, this is your shot.

Snapshot of the balloon constellation on april 14, 2025

Responsibilities

• Serve as a web developer for our mission control dashboard
• Develop tools to facilitate manufacturing quality loop closure and improve flight performance
• Lean into chaos and immerse yourself in day-to-day operations
• Directly connect with our constellation of nearly 200 balloons
• Design systems that will scale from 200 to 10,000 balloons
• Interface directly with customers and fulfill real-time operational requests

Skills and Qualifications

• Self-directed learning in ambiguous, low-structure environments
• Fundamentally curious problem-solver with bias towards action
• Strong work ethic and drive for constant improvement, balanced with the ability to work effectively in a team environment
• Ability to prioritize and execute tasks in a high-pressure, fast paced environment
• Excellent communication skills (oral and written) and the ability to clearly and concisely articulate complex problems to a wide variety of audiences
• Ruby on Rails
• React
• 401(k)
• Health insurance
• Vision insurance
• Unlimited PTO
• Stock Option Plan
• Office food and beverages

$90,000-$130,000 *We are considering a range of backgrounds and experience levels for this position and will adjust our offers accordingly to be competitive with market rates.

Location

What our hardware looks like

Photos taken in Svalbard, Norway, 78°N

WindBorne Systems is based in Palo Alto, Calif. Our technology is invented, designed, and manufactured in the USA.

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