Principal Systems Architect

Summary

Join BlackSky, a real-time intelligence company, as a Principal Satellite Ground Segment Architect. You will architect and manage requirements for ground segment systems, distilling unified requirements across various customers and programs. This role involves collaborating with internal and external stakeholders, translating requirements into engineering specifications, and ensuring accurate documentation. You will work closely with engineering and product teams to develop roadmaps, align development plans, and integrate capabilities. The position requires strong communication skills and experience in systems architecture and engineering. This is a hands-on role contributing to BlackSky's leadership in real-time geospatial intelligence.

Requirements

• 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)

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 Stategic 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

Preferred Qualifications

• 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

Benefits

• 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