Enterprise Ground Systems Software Engineer

Overview

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.

The Defense Systems Group (DSG) provides analysis-based decision support to senior leaders on space architectures, policy and strategy, technology development, warfighter capability enablers, systems integration, defense industrial base, and threat reduction to help shape existing and future space missions across the national security space (NSS) enterprise. DSG supports major customers, including the U.S. Space Force, U.S. Space Command, Air Force Material Command, and senior leadership at the Pentagon, and provides broad technical support across the national space enterprise.

The Enterprise Ground Systems Engineering team is seeking an experienced Software Engineer with expertise in software and network messaging standards and protocols to design, develop, and implement robust interface capabilities.

• Analyze and debug message busses and interfaces (e.g., Kafka)
• Architect and implement scalable, reliable message-oriented middleware solutions
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams in an agile environment to deliver messaging features iteratively
• Participate in sprint planning, daily stand-ups, retrospectives, and other agile ceremonies
• Write clean, maintainable, and well-documented code following best practices
• Develop and maintain APIs for message publishing, consumption, and routing
• Ensure message delivery guarantees, fault tolerance, and system resilience
• Conduct code reviews and provide technical mentorship to team members
• Troubleshoot and optimize system performance and reliability
• Stay current with emerging messaging technologies and standards

For Project Engineer
- Software Architecture Engineering and Cloud Computing Architecture:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related technical/STEM field
• 8 or more years of software development experience
• Strong knowledge of network messaging standards and protocols
• Hands-on experience with message buses and streaming platforms (Kafka, ActiveMQ, etc.)
• Proficiency in one or more programming languages (Java, Python, Go, C++, etc.)
• Knowledge of containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes)
• Demonstrated experience working in agile/scrum development environments
• Experience with monitoring and observability tools (Prometheus, Grafana, ELK stack)
• Experience with RESTful APIs and integration patterns
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and Dev Ops practices
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills
• Excellent communication and collaboration abilities
• This position requires the ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret/SCI security clearance, issued by the US government. US citizenship is required to obtain a security clearance.

In addition, the minimum requirements for a Sr. Project Engineer
- Software Architecture Engineering and Cloud Computing Architecture include:

• 12 or more years of software development experience
• Experience providing technical leadership and integration supporting Space superiority efforts
• Proven ability working with customer and contractor teams on connecting capabilities across the enterprise
• Prior experience leading and executing technical assessments and identifying technical gaps, risks and issues

• Active Secret or Top Secret/SCI security clearance
• Experience with cloud messaging services (AWS SNS/SQS, Azure Service Bus)
• Understanding of distributed systems, microservices architecture, and event-driven design
• Understanding of message serialization formats (JSON, Protocol Buffers, Avro)
• Familiarity with network hardware components (routers, switches, firewalls, load balancers, NICs) and their role in messaging infrastructure
• Certi…