Software Architect - Mission Systems

The Aerospace Corporation is the trusted partner to the nation’s space programs, solving the hardest problems and providing unmatched technical expertise. As the operator of a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC), we are broadly engaged across all aspects of space— delivering innovative solutions that span satellite, launch, ground, and cyber systems for defense, civil and commercial customers. When you join our team, you’ll be part of a special collection of problem solvers, thought leaders, and innovators.

Join us and take your place in space.

Staff combine the latest in information system technologies, such as elastic compute clouds, containerization, microservices, real-time operating systems, and visualization frameworks, with expertise in cyber security, software architecture, software engineering, process improvement, and software development to deliver responsive, resilient, high-performance software intensive systems to our IC, DoD, and civilian customers.

This is a technical leadership position that plays essential role in influencing the state of software architecture and software engineering practice.

This role will include leadership of and collaboration with technical staff to develop, field and advise on innovative software-enabled flight and ground segment solutions to meet the dynamic mission needs of our US Space Force, Intelligence Community, NASA, NOAA, and commercial/international customers.

This is a full-time 100% on site position based in El Segundo, CA or Chantilly, VA.

• Leading software development and architecture support for backend and frontend ground systems services

• Developing architectural concepts and software engineering approaches to develop ground systems for customer programs

• Providing space mission and ground software expertise in mission planning and scheduling software;
  Telemetry, Tracking and Command (TT&C) systems, flight dynamic software, mission data processing

• Evaluating and advising on cloud and computing infrastructure to include virtualization, containerization and edge computing

• Leveraging networking and communications technical domain experts across the company

• Leveraging cybersecurity and compliance technical domain experts across the company

• Leveraging data processing and AI/ML technical domain experts across the company

• Providing guidance and expertise in Dev Sec Ops , and automation

• Leading and participating in conceptual and preliminary design studies and trades of ground systems, to include multi-disciplinary engineering teams

• Evaluating ground system software architecture and design concepts by participating in technology working groups, reviewing and evaluating contractor submitted designs and identifying and mitigating software risks

• Working with contractor, Government, Aerospace technical experts, SETAs and other FFRDC personnel

• Mentoring junior members of the department.

Minimum Requirements:

Engineering specialist - Software Architecture Engineering and Cloud Computing Architecture

• B.S. in computer science, software engineering, computer engineering, systems engineering or related STEM discipline

• 8+ years of relevant experience in software architecture, design and development for both on-prem and cloud computing.

• Proven track record of leading, developing and working on multi-disciplinary engineering teams

• A strong knowledge of ground systems, spacecraft systems, and software systems engineering principles

• Experience with hardware control systems, and FPGA design and programming

• Proven ability to work in a fast-paced environment, adapt quickly to change, and demonstrate initiative under pressure

• Demonstrated experience in developing ground systems software concepts

• Demonstrated experience with software standards, software process approaches (e.g., waterfall, agile)

• Demonstrated experience in mission control and mission processing systems for space systems, cloud computing and cybersecurity compliance

• Proficiency in simulation tools/programming languages, including one or more of: MATLAB, Python,…