Principal Engineer - Network Systems

Be more than just an employee number! Join Terran Orbital, the leader in innovation, manufacturing, and operations in the small satellite industry.  We are a pioneer in the miniaturization of space technologies and the delivery of responsive space solutions.  We are a unique, fast growing, and trusted team focused on quickly and economically designing, building, launching, and operating state-of-the-art satellites for advanced mission constellations.

 Terran Orbital is seeking an experienced Principal Engineer - Network Systems to join our growing team.  

 In this role, you will ensure that our space vehicle products remain at the forefront of networking and industry standards. This role will implement and maintain robust and effective networking architectures and work closely with our customers and partners to provide a secure and resilient space domain system.  You will support the architecture of key elements of mission operations, system functional behavior and performance, and detailed design for innovative, high-capability small satellites.  

 Key Duties and Responsibilities   

• Provide technical, engineering, and programmatic support for integrated command and control (C2) space-to-ground and space-to-space network management systems. 
• Support design, development, and integration, test, and deployment of C2 space-to-ground and space-to-space network management systems 
• Develop C2 space-to-ground and space-to-space network management systems architectures, standards, requirements, and frameworks. 
• Monitor and ensure overall systems architecture adherence, and draft/update systems and mission CONOPs with appropriate stakeholders 
• Support roadmap development for common Software and networking architectures which are modular, scalable, and extensible. 
• Support integration of mission management and data processing with C2, and integration of other C2 components across all levels of abstraction to enable effective and robust space/ground network management. 
• Analyze and design for multiple and varying space data transport topologies and CONOPs 
• Support network calibration, network constellation modeling, data storage and dissemination, precision timing and two-way time and frequency transfer.  
• Interdisciplinary and collaborative planning, designing, development, verification, and validation of lifecycle balanced product networking solutions. 
• Establish standard operating procedures that support mission assurance, risk mitigation, and contingency plans to assure required mission “up time” for all ground activities. 
• Collaborate with engineering teams to define interfaces; integrate mission applications and data storage; and verify Terran Orbital enterprise capabilities 
• Implement life cycle systems engineering best practices 

Requirements

• 10 years or more of experience in networking and system of systems data transfer
• 10+ years experience programming C/C++ or similar language 
• Expertise with computer networking including switch and router networking solutions (packet processing, MPLS, DSCP, VPN, VLAN, IPV4/6, TCP/UDP, Quality of Service, Type of Service, HAIPE NETCONF) 
• High speed and high reliability networking solutions such as the YANG data model 
• Embedded systems hardware architecture, processor architecture, and switch/router OS 
• Expertise in mission technical capabilities, system performance and analysis, and detailed network design. 
• Demonstrated ability to make complex critical decisions in a timely manner. 
• Experience leading day-to-day operations on complex programs or large functional organizations, with proven collaboration and coordination skills across internal and external stakeholder organizations. 
• Experience with risk, issue, and opportunity management 
• Proven ability to deliver effective communication verbally, written, and through well-crafted presentations across all levels of an organization. 
• Impeccable attention to detail and sense of urgency 
• Ability to self-govern with minimal supervision, establish workload priorities, and to utilize efficient time management practices to achieve assigned tasks 
• To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 22 CFR §120.15 or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State 

 Additional Differentiators

• Hands-on experience developing networking software/firmware implementations for embedded systems. Space or airborne vehicle deployment experience
• Demonstrated experience in networking engineering for space domain products