Principal Engineer, Software Architect (R4562)

Define and evolve the system‑wide software architecture for XBAT, spanning airborne vehicle, ground station, and autonomy layers.

Translate safety and security goals into technical requirements, standards, and design patterns that guide engineers across multiple software teams.

Ensure architecture supports safety‑critical and cyber‑relevant workflows. This includes formalizing architecture decisions, traceability, and compliance pathways appropriate for advanced airborne systems.

Drive cross‑team alignment on APIs, data flows, fault handling, verification strategy, and risk management so mission, vehicle, and autonomy components integrate cleanly.

Partner with engineering leadership, system architects, and validation teams to balance innovation speed with rigorous assurance practices.

Set technical direction for long‑term scalability: modularity, maintainability, testability, and support for future capability growth or certification needs.

Mentor senior engineers and architects, raising the bar for design rigor, documentation quality, and architectural judgment across the organization.

Produce and maintain architecture artifacts: high‑level system diagrams, component interfaces, data models, risk analyses, and design rationales.

Lead technical reviews for major features, changes, or integration points; ensure alignment with architectural standards and safety/security constraints.

Define architecture governance: decision records, change control processes, quality gates, and collaboration flows among development, verification, and operations.

Collaborate with systems, hardware, and avionics teams to manage boundaries, timing, resource allocation, and failure modes that affect overall aircraft and mission performance.

Drive technology evaluation and roadmap: select or validate frameworks, middleware, and tooling that meet performance, assurance, and cyber‑hardening needs.

Support external or internal readiness evaluations: provide architectural evidence, participate in reviews, and help the program articulate compliance posture as requirements evolve.

Advocate for continuous improvement in architecture practice: metrics, architecture reviews, knowledge sharing, and onboarding for new team members.