Ground Architecture Senior Project Leader

The Aerospace Corporation is the trusted partner to the nation’s space programs, solving the hardest problems and providing unmatched technical expertise. As the operator of a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC), we are broadly engaged across all aspects of space— delivering innovative solutions that span satellite, launch, ground, and cyber systems for defense, civil and commercial customers. When you join our team, you’ll be part of a special collection of problem solvers, thought leaders, and innovators. Join us and take your place in space.

The National Systems Group serves as the technical advisor to the Intelligence Community and its mission partners involved in the collection and distribution of national and tactical intelligence, including electronics programs, advanced technologies, ground and communications, imagery programs, and systems engineering and launch.

We are seeking a Ground Architecture Senior Project Leader to be part of the National Reconnaissance Office’s Ground Enterprise Directorate (GED) Integrated Systems Program Office (ISPO) team. ISPO is responsible for the development and delivery of the OPIR baseline ground portfolio and evolving a fully integrated, resilient enterprise in support of intelligence community and Defense Department requirements. You will lead an approximately 6 Professional Technical Service effort leveraging 10-15 contributors to guide the development of the US Government’s next-generation OPIR Ground Mission Processing and Mission Management systems architecture.  Key efforts will include assessing current and potential future OPIR ground architectures, evolving OPIR ground capabilities to meet new mission needs, migrating the evolving mission processing systems to cloud-based solutions, implementing a new data management strategy, and improving architecture resiliency.

Work Model

This is a full-time position based at Westfields in Chantilly, Virginia, which requires 100% onsite work.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Integrating and representing Aerospace contributions to US Government leadership to build acquisition strategies that realize best-value solutions from industry
• Coordinating across ground and mission enterprise segments to ensure user needs are understood and satisfied for multi-phase acquisition efforts
• Building and leading Aerospace subject matter expert teams to mature OPIR processing technologies, integrate evolving systems and sensors, and deliver resilient and responsive algorithms
• Proactively identifying new technologies, such as AI/ML and automation, for development and integration to enhance existing processing and exploitation capabilities
• Budgeting and prioritizing Aerospace activities to maximize impact aligned with strategic customer efforts

What You Need to be Successful

Minimum Requirements for Senior Project Leader – Signal and Image Process Engr.:

• Bachelor's or advanced degree in computer science, engineering, mathematics, physical sciences or a related technical field
• 10 or more years of ground or space systems acquisition engineering experience
• Experience building and leading high-performing teams of engineering professionals
• Experience in one or more of the following domains: mission processing systems for space systems, constellation tasking and optimization, Overhead Persistent Infrared (OPIR), geospatial intelligence (GEOINT), US Government acquisitions and/or systems engineering, or agile software development
• Willing to travel domestically approximately 20% to support customer activities and foster collaboration
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• This position requires a current and active TS/SCI security clearance and CI polygraph, which is issued by the U.S. government. U.S. citizenship is required to obtain a security clearance

How You Can Stand Out

It would be impressive if you have one or more of these:

• Advanced degree in image processing, computer science/engineering, systems engineering, electrical engineering, or a related engineering or scientific field
• Experience leading cross-functional, matrixed teams with diverse skill sets
• Expertise in OPIR mission processing architectures including on-orbit processing
• Experience in requirements development and analysis, advanced systems architecture, and new signal processing technologies
• Certification in Kubernetes administration or application development, OpenJS/Node.js services development, Cloud Native or Cloud Foundry development
• Experience in agile software development at scale, agile IV&V testing for federal contracts, commercial cloud enviro