Company Overview

Aireon has deployed the world’s first and global space-based air traffic surveillance system, which is revolutionizing the entire aviation industry.  The Aireon system provides real-time aircraft monitoring spanning never before covered areas of the planet, including remote, oceanic and polar regions.  Aireon’s receivers are hosted on the Iridium constellation, which consists of 66 operational satellites in low-earth orbit and utilizes a unique cross-linked satellite architecture creating a web of coverage around the world.  The Aireon system enables safer, more efficient and more environmentally friendly aviation travel, resulting in significant CO2 emission reductions.  Numerous Air Navigation Service Providers have already signed on as customers and are receiving Aireon’s space-based ADS-B data, including NAV CANADA, NATS (UK), Naviair (Denmark), Enav (Italy), the Irish Aviation Authority, Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, Air Traffic and Navigation Services (South Africa) and more.

Position Summary, Job Requirements & Responsibilities

We are committed to offering an employment experience and benefits package that enables you and your family to grow with us and to share in our success.

Job Description

The Senior Software Architect will have a significant role in the planning, development, and continued growth of the Aireon space-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) air traffic surveillance system.  Reporting to the Director of Systems Engineering, the Senior Software Architect will work alongside our Chief Innovation Scientist to design and code complex software services to support the changing features of the Aireon system both on-prem and in the cloud.  The Senior Software Architect will be encouraged to innovate and ensure that key improvements to the Aireon system are delivered to internal and external customers.

This individual will also collaborate in technical activities with Aireon’s development partners, including Iridium (the payload procurement manager, payload development and integration technical manager, the Hosted Payload Operations Center (HPOC) developer and operator, and the host satellite services provider), and Harris (the payload supplier, the systems engineering contractor, the Aireon Processing and Distribution (APD) system provider and operator).  The Senior Software Architect will also engage with engineers and developers from ANSPs such as NAV CANADA, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and other ANSPs overseas.  A key objective is to ensure the system design meets all the users’ needs.

Effective communication and adeptness at working with a variety of personalities and skillsets across multiple organizations, multiple time zones, and willingness to contribute broadly in a fast-paced, start-up environment will be a key part of this role.  Come join a team that has a unique data set and is continuing to build and integrate using this data.

This role is hybrid remote.

What You’ll Do

• System Design
  • Designing an update to Aireon’s existing system architecture to incorporate lessons learned and leverage new technologies
  • Working closely with Systems Engineering to translate this design into requirements
  • Development of algorithms that support the necessary end-to-end data delivery and commanding
  • Taking user stories and translating them into necessary functions for the Aireon system
• Prototyping
  • Verifying that the proposed designs will work through the development of prototypes
  • Translating results from prototypes into technical documents and demonstrations
  • Working with developers to implement these prototype solutions
• Development
  • Being the subject matter expert on the software being used by the Aireon system
  • Supporting the development effort along with other software developers
  • Contribute to updates of the requirements and testing of the Aireon system and subsystems.
  • Ensure the Aireon’s design will meet system performance requirements of the customer ANSPs through traceability, requirements management, and gap analysis.
  • Interaction with Aireon partners and customers such as the FAA and NAV CANADA on the technical and operational aspects of the Aireon system.

Required Qualifications

• Minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a technical degree with significant software systems experience
• Have working experience in designing high availability and fault tolerant environments
• Significant experience with multiple programming languages (e.g. C, C , Python, Java, Scala, Go)
• Knowledge of supporting development tools including Git, JIRA, Jenkins, and IDEs
• Working knowledge of Linux
• 3 years of experience working as a Software Engineer on distributed production systems
• 3 years of work experience as a Software Architect, designing and architecting highly scalable distributed systems using different technologies
• 3 years of hands-on experience in software development, system operations/engineering, network engineering, cloud administration, or database architecture
• Excellent problem-solving skills involving complex and ambiguous issues
• Experience in setting direction for disaster recovery models.
• Presentation skills with a high degree of comfort speaking with executives, engineering and business stakeholders, and developers.
• Meets requirements of an SF85P public trust

Desired Qualifications

• Experience with embedded systems and bit-level manipulation
• Experience with containers
• Experience with mission-critical (aviation, healthcare, defense) systems
• Experience with ED-109A/DO-278A
• Familiarity with IEEE-12207 (Software Life Cycle Processes)
• Familiarity with development in cloud environments (AWS, Azure, etc.)
• Understanding or background with aircraft surveillance technologies such as ADS-B and/or Mode S is desirable

About You

You are a self-starter. Sitting and waiting isn’t an option. You take the initiative to make things happen.

You are comfortable with multi-tasking.  Managing and juggling priorities across tasks seem to come naturally in your everyday workload.  You have a sense of how to balance priorities and communicate clearly when overloaded with assistance/help.

You love solving problems. You enjoy digging into problems and finding the most efficient ways to solve them.  You have a passion for understanding issues and tackling them in a logical fashion.

You are collaborative. You're a team player who puts the interest of the team above your own. You display a positive attitude, are open, and enjoy contributing.

You are a natural leader. No matter where you find yourself, others tend to gather around you, leading to encouragement and mentoring.

Technology is your passion. It doesn’t just provide a paycheck; you are genuinely interested in what you do and the impact that it has on others.

1-3-6-12 Month Plan

In the first month, we will expect you to…

• • Get onboarded and train with your manager
  • HR Onboarding
  • Aireon Engineering Training
  • Gain access to various systems
  • Learn about what Aireon does and how our system works
  • Get acclimated into the role and learn about Aireon’s internal processes
  • Gain familiarity with Aireon Engineering repositories in Bitbucket, Confluence, Jira, & SharePoint

In 3 months, we will expect you to…

• • Begin to understand the ins and outs of the complexities of the Aireon system
  • Start developing best practices, templates, and documentation to create architectural designs
  • Identify risk areas and opportunities for improvements in the existing architecture and provide high-level solutions to address these risks

At 6 months we will expect you to…

• • Develop and own high-level architecture, detail architecture, integration diagrams, roadmaps, and other artifacts pertaining to the Aireon system
  • Begin prototyping solutions and working with other developers to implement these solutions
  • Creating technical data packages that are presented to internal and external stakeholders

At 12 months we’ll expect you to…

• • Provide subject-matter expertise and clarify the architecture for the technical teams to support implementation and resolve software impediments
  • Lead the development efforts of Aireon’s new system design along with other developers
  • Own the software architecture of Aireon and be able to fully describe and present the solutions to system problems

About the Team

The Aireon System Engineering team is a small team that collaborates closely across both Systems & Modeling and Analysis tasks.  The team also works closely with other teams and groups within Aireon including Implementation and Test Engineering, Network Engineering, and Sales/Marketing and Operational groups.  Each member of the Systems Engineering team draws upon the strengths and skills across the group in both their individual as well as larger projects.  Information sharing is encouraged as well as updating and maintaining shared document repositories in Sharepoint and Confluence.  The team currently meets on both a weekly and bi-weekly basis via MS Teams and video calls, with in-office or lab sessions scheduled as required.  All the team members are currently locally located within the DC-MD-VA metro area and are available for on-site meetings and activities associated with the Aireon Systems Engineering group.

Perks and Benefits

• Premium medical, dental and vision plan
• Life Insurance and AD&D
• Short Term and Long-Term Disability
• Health Savings Account (HSA)
• Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
• Retirement 401K plan with Employer Matching
• Education Assistance and Tuition Reimbursement
• Vacation, Sick Leave, Floating Holidays
• Paid Parental Leave
• Company Sponsored Events
• Employee Referral Program

Aireon requires all employees/new hires to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 prior to starting work. Aireon is an equal opportunity employer and will consider requests for exemption from this policy as a reasonable accommodation where it can do so absent undue hardship, consistent with federal, state, and local law.

Aireon is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or status as a protected veteran. EOE of Minorities/Females/Vets/Disability and other protected categories.

Experience & Education Requirements / EEO

Aireon is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or status as a protected veteran. EOE of Minorities/Females/Vets/Disability and other protected categories.