Space Force Software Architect

General Dynamics Mission Systems•Scottsdale, AZ

18h•Hybrid

About The Position

General Dynamics Mission Systems (GDMS) is seeking an experienced Software Architect to provide technical and architectural leadership for the Ground Management and Integration (GMI) program supporting the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA). GMI continues GDMS’s Ground Segment work under the Tranche 1 Operations and Integration program and supports Tranche 2 capabilities, with architecture intended to remain interoperable and scalable through Tranche 3 and future tranches. The role works across three related PWSA levels: enterprise architecture and integration across the Ground, Space, and User Segments; GDMS Ground Segment development and integration, including SUPERNOVAs, NOVAs, Ground Entry Points (GEPs), and associated networks; and T2-specific GMI work, including T2 SUPERNOVAs and T2 GEPs. The architect will guide secure, resilient, mission-critical software and cloud-enabled systems in classified environments, align GMI architecture with broader program objectives, and lead integration and technical governance. This position is fully onsite or hybrid/flex, with a minimum of three days onsite, at the Scottsdale, Arizona facility. The role requires willingness and ability to work primarily from the Scottsdale area and travel as required. A DoD Secret clearance is required at hire, and U.S. citizenship is required due to the nature of the work.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related technical field.
Minimum 25 years of progressive experience in software engineering, software architecture, systems engineering, or technical leadership roles.
Minimum 10 years of recent experience designing, architecting, integrating, or sustaining complex distributed software systems.
Demonstrated experience supporting classified, defense, intelligence, space, satellite ground, command-and-control, or other mission-critical operational systems.
Active DoD Secret security clearance, with ability to maintain the clearance required for the program; clearance is required at time of hire.
U.S. citizenship is required.
Demonstrated experience designing, implementing, or integrating cloud architectures, including cloud-native, hybrid-cloud, and/or on-premises-to-cloud environments.
Experience designing secure cloud solutions using AWS services and capabilities for compute, storage, networking, identity and access management, monitoring, logging, security controls, and disaster recovery.
Experience with cloud deployment and operations in controlled, restricted, regulated, or classified environments.
Strong understanding of software architecture, distributed systems, service-oriented architectures, microservices, APIs, event-driven architectures, data architectures, and secure software design.
Experience integrating software with complex networks, external interfaces, mission systems, hardware platforms, and geographically distributed operational environments.
Experience with cybersecurity concepts including secure communications, encryption, authentication, authorization, audit logging, vulnerability management, secure configuration, and zero-trust principles.
Ability to communicate architecture decisions, trade studies, risks, and integration approaches to engineering teams, program leadership, customers, and mission stakeholders.
Willingness and ability to work primarily from the Scottsdale, Arizona area and travel as required.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, Cybersecurity, or a related discipline.
AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional and/or AWS Certified Security – Specialty.
Experience developing, deploying, or sustaining workloads in AWS GovCloud, AWS Secret Region, or comparable government cloud environments.
Familiarity with AWS GovCloud or comparable government cloud environments is strongly desired.
Experience with PWSA, Space Development Agency programs, DoD space programs, satellite operations, satellite ground systems, ground networks, command-and-control systems, or tactical mission systems.
Experience supporting multi-tranche, incremental capability-delivery programs requiring interoperability between legacy, developmental, and operational systems.
Experience with SUPERNOVAs, NOVAs, GEPs, satellite ground entry points, ground-network architecture, or comparable mission-ground infrastructure.
Experience with DevSecOps and platform engineering, including CI/CD, automated security scanning, software supply-chain security, containers, Kubernetes, Helm, Docker, Terraform, Ansible, and infrastructure as code.
Experience implementing or integrating cloud platforms using AWS services such as EC2, EKS, ECS, Lambda, S3, RDS, VPC, Route 53, CloudWatch, CloudTrail, IAM, KMS, Secrets Manager, Security Hub, and GuardDuty.
Familiarity with RMF, NIST Risk Management Framework guidance, NIST 800-53 controls, STIGs, ATO processes, and DoD cybersecurity requirements.
Experience with Model-Based Systems Engineering, architecture frameworks, interface-control documentation, requirements traceability, and system-of-systems integration.
Experience leading technical teams in Agile, iterative, or scaled development environments.
Active Top Secret clearance or eligibility to obtain one.

Responsibilities

Lead software architecture definition, maturation, and technical governance for GMI capabilities supporting SUPERNOVAs, GEPs, and ground-network integrations.
Support existing architectures and develop new architectures as program requirements and functionality evolve.
Align GMI architecture with Ground Segment and Enterprise-level objectives, interfaces, standards, operational needs, and integration dependencies.
Architect distributed, secure, highly available, resilient, and maintainable software solutions for classified mission environments.
Establish architectural patterns and standards for services, APIs, data exchange, event-driven systems, messaging, workflow orchestration, identity and access management, logging, monitoring, and observability.
Lead technical definition and integration of SUPERNOVAs, NOVAs, GEPs, ground networks, cloud services, and supporting infrastructure.
Define and maintain logical, physical, deployment, interface, data-flow, security, and operational architecture artifacts.
Develop and govern integration approaches across ground, space, and user segments; mission systems; operational users; external partners; and ground infrastructure.
Lead architecture and design reviews, technical interchange meetings, integration readiness assessments, and technical risk-reduction activities.
Identify and manage risks involving interoperability, cyber resilience, cloud adoption, performance, integration, sustainment, and future tranche evolution.
Partner with systems engineering, software development, cybersecurity, network engineering, integration and test, platform engineering, program management, and customer stakeholders.
Provide architectural direction for cloud migration, cloud-native development, hybrid-cloud integration, and mission-software deployment in secure or classified environments.
Guide DevSecOps implementation, including secure CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, containerization, infrastructure as code, configuration and artifact management, and continuous monitoring.
Support technical planning, roadmaps, estimates, proposals, schedule planning, and transition-to-operations activities.
Mentor architects, engineers, and technical leads and promote disciplined software engineering and architecture practices.