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Principal Systems Architect

Herndon, VA; Remote

Principal Satellite Ground Segment Architect

About Us:

BlackSky is a real-time intelligence company. We own and operate the world's most advanced space-based intelligence platform and provide customers satellite imagery, automated analytics and high-frequency monitoring of strategic locations, economic assets and events from around the globe. BlackSky is trusted by the most demanding allied military and intelligence organizations and commercial companies to deliver foresight into critical matters that affect national security and the economy. BlackSky's data enables governments and businesses to see, understand and anticipate change as it happens, giving them the ultimate strategic advantage so they can act quickly. Our global team works with cutting-edge technology to make a difference around the world and prides itself on being people-first, customer-focused and fun.

BlackSky is looking for a talented system architect, in support of the Chief Technology Office to help shape and drive the direction and realization of future BlackSky space and ground system capabilities. This role will play an instrumental part in future innovation and supporting BlackSky’s position as a leader in real-time geospatial intelligence. BlackSky is looking for multi-faceted individual with a strong engineering background who can work across diverse stakeholder sets to develop and guide solutions for challenging problems and complex customer missions. This is a hands-on role and you will be working across teams to evolve our current systems and technologies to align with future BlackSky requirements, capabilities, and strategic direction. 

This role reports to the VP, Product Architecture and while we would strongly prefer candidates near our Herndon, VA office we may also consider remote candidates in certain states.

Responsibilities:

  • Architect, design, and manage requirements for As-Is and Target architectures for systems and sub-systems within BlackSky’s Ground Segment.
  • Distill unified requirements and system design across disparate major customers and programs, product roadmap, and BlackSky Strategic vision.
  • Communicate with internal and external stakeholder and translate requirements into engineering specifications within the BlackSky architecture.
  • Understand the interactions between systems, applications, and services within the architecture and evaluate the impact of changes or additions including risks and resource implications.
  • Ensure the accuracy and completeness of BlackSky architecture documentation.
  • Work closely with developers, engineers, and the product team to develop road maps for system capabilities, align development plans, and ensure effective capability integration across space and ground systems and subsystems.
  • Work with engineering teams on elements of system design including resource requirements, interfaces and data models, enterprise integration patterns, system and sub-system capabilities, standards and best practices, etc.
  • Support the capture of strategic opportunities and execution of strategic programs by representing technical capabilities of the architecture and devising potential solutions to support both new organizations and provide new mission capabilities .
  • Act as liaison between technical and non-technical departments, facilitating cross-team collaboration and understanding.
  • Organize and track projects, proactively manage risks, manage project escalations, prioritize tasks, and meet specific business objectives.
  • Collaborate with business managers and technical groups to address important customer issues and find innovative solutions to difficult problems
  • Develop models and analyze data to evaluate tradeoffs and support the decision-making process.
  • Other job-related duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications:

  • A minimum of 12 years of related work experience with at least five (5) years in systems architecture or systems engineering.
  • Bachelor’s degree in an engineering field.
  • Experience architecting complex software systems.
  • Able to decompose complex problems into pieces and components.
  • Familiarity with Software Engineering best practices and process including agile development.
  • Knowledge of software enterprise design patterns.
  • Experience designing Software APIs, system integrations and Data Models.
  • Familiarity with software life cycle from product concept through operations and maintenance and toolchains used to manage this process (JIRA, Git, etc.).
  • Versed in Systems Engineering best practices and tools including communicating, managing, and documenting system architectures, documenting interfaces, documenting and validation of functional and non-functional requirements.
  • Effective communication skills to represent architectural and engineering concepts and decisions across varied stakeholders including Engineering, Sales, Customers, Product Management.
  • Experience developing Concepts of Operations and derived engineering requirements based on complex Customer and Mission requirements.
  • Basic Algorithm or Modelling experience to develop rulesets for system behavior and the productization of high-level features.
  • Must be eligible to obtain and maintain a US Security Clearance (this requires US Citizenship).

Preferred Qualifications:

  • A minimum of 15 years of related work experience with at least five (5) years in systems architecture or systems engineering.
  • Familiarity with the geospatial domain and systems that leverage GIS data, especially from satellite systems and remote sensing.
  • Experience with component(s) of the ground segment for satellite systems including mission planning, ground stations, order management, image production, or AI/ML or analogous systems.
  • Former software engineering and software architecture experience for production systems, especially Satellite or product based SAAS.
  • Experience with technologies involved in Public Cloud and On-Premise Kubernetes deployments.
  • Master’s degree in engineering.

Life at BlackSky for full-time US benefits eligible employees includes:

  • Medical, dental, vision, disability, group term life and AD&D, voluntary life and AD&D insurance
    • BlackSky pays 100% of employee-only premiums for medical, dental and vision and contributes $100/month for out-of-pocket expenses!
  • 15 days of PTO, 11 Company holidays, four Floating Holidays (pro-rated based on hire date), one day of paid volunteerism leave per year, parental leave and more
  • 401(k) pre-tax and Roth deferral options with employer match
  • Flexible Spending Accounts
  • Employee Stock Purchase Program
  • Employee Assistance and Travel Assistance Programs
  • Employer matching donations
  • Professional development
  • Mac or PC? Your choice!
  • Awesome swag

The anticipated base salary range for candidates in Seattle, WA is $180,000-220,000 per year. The final compensation package offered to a successful candidate will be dependent on specific background and education. BlackSky is a multi-state employer, and this pay scale may not reflect salary ranges in other states or locations outside of Seattle, WA.

BlackSky is committed to hiring and retaining a diverse workforce. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer All Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law.

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

EEO/AAP/ Pay Transparency Statements:

https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/eeopost.pdf

https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/OFCCP_EEO_Supplement_Final_JRF_QA_508c.pdf

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