Principal Software Design Engineer

Company Overview

Iridium is an award-winning and innovative satellite communications company with bragging rights to the only network that offers voice and data connectivity anywhere in the world. For over 20 years, Iridium’s unique network and services have supported critical communications needs for individuals, businesses, and the evolving Internet of Things.

At Iridium, we understand the importance of staying connected and the limitations of traditional communications networks. People across the globe, including first responders, humanitarians, global militaries, scientific researchers, and lone workers, as well as ships, aircraft and remote operations all rely on Iridium to stay connected. We take our responsibility for providing these essential communications very seriously and pride ourselves on offering a reliable lifeline when needed. Likewise, Iridium is committed to providing an exciting and innovative workplace, where employees are challenged to think outside the box and collaborate on new, bold ideas and solutions. Our talented teams are passionate about their work and the impact our company makes around the world. Iridium fosters an empowering and inclusive culture that allows employees to genuinely be their best selves. We are looking for others who want to join this truly unique company that celebrates our employees and provides the opportunity to truly make a difference in the world.

Position Summary, Job Requirements & Responsibilities

What We’re Looking For:

If you enjoy learning about and working with breakthrough technologies, and are experienced in software design and architecture within the space or satellite communications industry, then you will be excited about the Principal Software Design Engineer opening on the Ground Development team with Iridium for a Space Development Agency (SDA) project. As a Principal Software Design Engineer, you’ll be responsible for managing multiple activities and projects, including those with cross-functional teams, to ensure our software systems are efficiently designed and aligned with evolving end-user needs. In this role, you will be tasked primarily with overseeing the software design process, providing technical leadership, and ensuring the software architecture aligns with the company’s strategic goals and mission success. You will thrive in this role if you are passionate about building innovative tools, enjoy collaborating closely with software leads and product owners, and are driven to create solutions that elevate user experience and system performance.

This position requires an active/current Secret Security Clearance or the ability to obtain a Secret Security Clearance (A U.S. Security Clearance that has been active in the past 24 months is considered active).

What You’ll Do:

Work independently within CUI (Controlled Unclassified Information) and classified environments, generating process documentation and performing conformance assessments

Implement and maintain software build environments using the Atlassian tool suite and GitLab source control

Support the development of junior developers and engineers by coordinating on-the-job assignments and providing guidance as needed

Refine and document the software architecture—including service collaborations and interface definitions—to ensure scalability, reliability, and performance Construct prototypical enhancements/extensions to the Ground SW Architecture in support of significant new features and/or Basis of Estimates (BOEs)

Ensure all architectural constraints are documented, communicated, and applied across development efforts

Assist Developers and Systems Engineers in associating new features into the correct Architectural location

Understand and participate in reviews of Interface Control Documents (ICDs), such as S2G and SN2N, and identify software interfaces that meet defined requirements

Assist with BOE generation and documentation

Coordinate Program Increment (PI) Planning across all software teams

Support Agile process implementation by guiding Scrum Masters and developers on SDA-specific adaptations

Identify and help mitigate potential risks and technical debt in software design

Stay up to date with emerging technologies, industry trends, and best practices to continuously improve the software design process

Communicate effectively with stakeholders, including product owners, developers, and management, to align expectations and deliver on project objectives

Experience & Education Requirements / EEO

What You’ll Need to Succeed:

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, or related engineering discipline

10+ years’ Systems Engineering, Test or Software Programming experience

5+ years’ satellite control ground systems experience

Recent experience leading satellite constellation ground system software developers

Advanced UNIX experience and shell programming experience

Expertise and experience in developing optimized code for both scalability and performance

Develop an expert working knowledge of complex technical subject matter as it pertains to SDA

Excellent communication skills, with the ability to convey products, deliverables, analyses, and/or issues clearly and confidently, and recognize and adapt to different communication techniques

Can easily build meaningful relationships with others, including senior leadership outside of your own department, and is comfortable providing constructive feedback to your team members and management

Be able to analyze a situation or problem, generate effective solutions, and see those solutions through to completion

Must possess the creativity and resourcefulness needed to make reliable decisions and determine methods on new assignments

Can thrive in a dynamic environment by handling multiple tasks and managing shifting priorities

Be proactive in sharing knowledge you’ve learned with others

Things That Would be Great if You Brought to the Table:

An understanding of Software Security including Security Best Practices and interface hardening

Experience or familiarity with the following technologies:

Red Hat Linux based environments and bash shell scripting

Java / Java Script / Type Script / Python / Perl / C++

XML / JSON / SQL / YAML

No SQL based DBs (e.g. Mongo/Redis)

js / Apache Web Server

RESTful / HTTP Apache Kafka / Web Sockets

Atlassian management/software development tools

Micro Services based architectures

Automated testing frameworks

Gov and non-Gov AWS cloud environments and architectures

We’ll also need you to:

Be able to travel up to 10%

Be a US Citizen

Work Environment:

This position primarily works in an office setting and is largely sedentary with the majority of the position working with a computer. The role typically requires the use of basic office equipment such as a phone, video, computer, keyboard, mouse, and printer.

Iridium is an Equal Opportunity Employer, including individuals with disabilities and protected veterans.