Software Development Manager

Viasat, Inc.•Carlsbad, CA

10d•Onsite

About The Position

One team. Global challenges. Infinite opportunities. At Viasat, we’re on a mission to deliver connections with the capacity to change the world. For more than 35 years, Viasat has helped shape how consumers, businesses, governments and militaries around the globe communicate. We’re looking for people who think big, act fearlessly, and create an inclusive environment that drives positive impact to join our team. You will lead the Connectivity Management team within Viasat's Commercial Aviation platform, responsible for the software that gets passengers and crew devices onto the network aboard commercial aircraft. Your team owns the core onboard session management stack running on the Mobility Access Server. When a passenger mobile device connects mid-flight, your software is what makes it happen. This is a multi-year architectural modernization, not a maintenance role – you'll help shape how a mission-critical, resource-constrained system evolves in production. You will provide leadership for the development of software for edge platforms used in Aviation, delivering connectivity to end user devices leveraging Viasat’s networks. The team you lead will support support the critical infrastructure used for creating, testing, and delivering this connectivity via dedicated mobility access servers (MAS). We are looking for leader of a product team that can design, write, and deliver software services to our commercial aircraft. You will influence new designs, architectures, and methods for large-scale distributed systems. As part of our DevOps model, you will develop the service and own it from cradle to grave.

Requirements

7+ years of hands-on software engineering (Go, Python, or Java) with systems programming in Linux
2+ years leading a cross-functional software team in an agile/DevOps environment, including distributed time zones
Strong networking fundamentals: DHCP, DNS, NAT, iptables, TCP/IP, Layer ¾, etc.
Experience with distributed systems where state synchronization failures have real production SLA consequences
Hands-on Linux, systemd, and containerized workloads (Docker, Kubernetes)
Bachelor's degree or higher in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field

Nice To Haves

Protocol-level networking: AMQP/RabbitMQ, HTTP/3 / QUIC, RADIUS, DHCP option encoding
Experience building automated integration test frameworks for distributed systems (not just unit tests)
Experience modernizing a legacy stateful system incrementally in production (feature-flagged migration, dual-run)
Familiarity with aviation or embedded edge platform constraints — resource-limited hardware, over-the-air software delivery, regulatory environments
CI/CD experience with Github Actions or Jenkins
Modern AI-enhanced development workflow

Responsibilities

Lead the Connectivity Management team within Viasat's Commercial Aviation platform.
Oversee the software responsible for passenger and crew device connectivity on commercial aircraft.
Own the core onboard session management stack running on the Mobility Access Server.
Lead a geographically distributed team of engineers and architecture stakeholders.
Oversee the design, implementation, and production ownership of onboard connectivity services.
Drive a multi-year architectural modernization of the session management stack.
Implement quality improvements, including automated testing pipelines to catch session-management faults before they reach aircraft.
Enhance observability through per-component resource budgets and structured metrics.
Manage cross-team integration with other engineering teams and organizations.
Provide leadership for the development of software for edge platforms used in Aviation.
Support critical infrastructure for creating, testing, and delivering connectivity via dedicated mobility access servers (MAS).
Influence new designs, architectures, and methods for large-scale distributed systems.
Develop and own services from cradle to grave as part of a DevOps model.