Senior Principal Solutions Architect

Overview

iDirectGov's hubs, satellite routers and network management software address the growing complexity of deploying and managing global IP networks. iDirect Government’s specialized technology includes transmission security (TRANSEC), Communication Signal Interference Removal (CSIR™) anti-jam technology and Open Antenna Modem Interface Protocol (OpenAMIP). We bring innovation, integration and intelligence to satellite-based IP communications that government and military organizations trust. By providing quality certifications with the most bandwidth-efficient, scalable and highly secure platform, we have rapidly become the technology provider of choice for military and government-driven mission-critical applications.

We are seeking for a team player with solid technical skills to work with our team of smart, creative, and dedicated engineering team-members. This position is based out of our Herndon, VA location with the option of a remote work schedule.

The position of Senior Principal Solutions Architect needs to have experience in satellite ground systems and related networking infrastructure. The candidate should have experience with satellite communications concepts, complex system management, and networking protocols and standards. Prior experience with VSAT waveforms is not required but is highly desirable. The Senior Principal Solutions Architect will be a member of the System Architecture team that is responsible for developing key technologies and platforms that are the basis for future hardware and software products for the company. This is a highly technical position that requires deep theoretical understanding along with the ability to reduce theory to practice in the form of architectural and/or high-level design documents that an engineering team can use to implement functional systems. The candidate is expected to be a subject matter expert in their field and to be a guiding force in the engineering organization.

Responsibilities

• Contributing to architectural vision and customer-driven objectives on adoption of next generation terrestrial, cellular, wireless, and satellite waveforms/propagation and their interactions, including for example DVB-S2X
• Performing systems engineering and architecture development using new and emerging technologies into the iDirect Government solution sets
• Ability to bring together a complex technology set including RF, interference mitigation, networking/routing, network management, monitoring, etc. into a usable solution for a non-satellite expert user community
• Producing mathematical simulations of communication channels enabling the study of both channel improvement measures, such as pre-distortion/pre-coding as well as overall satellite communication system efficiency, such as interference mitigation/cancellation, successive interference cancellation, multiuser detection (MUD), and phased array antenna techniques (both space and ground segments)
• Leading the design for further advances in adaptive TDMA, SCPC, DAMA, and IoT return channels, including modeling and design of control loops and algorithms for real time embedded system implementation
• Participating with standards bodies to ensure proposed standards affecting iDirect are technically sound and aligned with the company’s interests
• Partnering with customers, business development partners, and the executive management team on innovative advancements to our product line
• Winning customer confidence through integrity, thought leadership, technical communication, problem solving, capability demonstrations and requirements negotiations
• Writing internal and external facing documents about iDirect Government technology
• Facilitating collaboration with the platform team and other engineering functions on system design issues
• Maintaining a high level of awareness of competitive developments, technological trends, and of complimentary third-party technologies

Qualifications

• 7+ years of Solution Architecture experience
• 20+ years of related SW and system solution development experience
• Experience with provider level networking systems (cellular, telecom, satellite, etc.)
• Demonstrated ability to learn/innovate in the field of software defined radio (SDR) links
• Architecting solutions for complex systems employing both high power computing platforms as well as embedded hardware platforms
• Experience in architecting or designing software applications based on a micro-services architecture, as well as deployment using containers (Dockers, etc.) and orchestrators (Kubernetes, etc.)
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills on technical matters
• Experience authoring technical documents and white papers
• Ability to lead technical discussions for new features, drive consensus, and capture the results in writing in the form of designs, models, and requirements
• Comfort working closely with senior engineering specialties and mentoring junior technical contributors on simultaneous top-down/bottom-up design and configuration for RF and microwave communication and monitoring systems
• Experience managing the delivery of the project; ensuring that the solution is delivered on schedule, within budget, and with the quality required
• Ability to plan/perform RF link budget analyses, cascade analyses, functional decomposition, studies/trade-offs in support of subsystem specification and hardware, firmware and software design recommendations

Additional experience in the following areas is a plus:

• Experience in architecting or designing and testing systems/fixtures in a multi-disciplinary environment including developing and writing software for test and integration, e.g. Go, NodeJS, C/C++/C#, SystemC, LabView, Python, and next generation languages.
• Knowledge of, and prior experience with Web Services (RESTful), API design and system-to-system interfaces
• Cloud technologies like Kubernetes, containerization, cloud native, Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) and security
• Experience with automating, and scripting deployments in virtualized environments (VMware and KVM), cloud (AWS, Openstack, Azure, Google), and physical servers
• Familiarity with Networking protocols, (IPv6, IPv4, TCP/IP, UDP, SIP/RTP, DNS, DHCP, Ethernet, VoIP, ARP, QinQ, RIPv2, BGP, etc.)
• Knowledge of database design and configuration such as SQL and MariaDB
• Experience in an Agile/Scrum environment
• Satellite Communication experience
• Familiarity with Orbital Mechanics simulators

Education: BS/MS/PhD in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Physics, Mathematics, or related field

Clearance: Active DoD security clearance or ability to obtain a secret level DoD clearance.

Travel: 0-5%

Pay Range: $110,333 - $220,666

The iDirect Government salary range for this position is intended to provide a general guideline for compensation. Actual compensation may vary based on factors including, but not limited to, the duties and responsibilities of the role, education, experience, knowledge, skills, abilities, internal equity, market data, applicable collective bargaining agreements, and other business or legal considerations. The posted range is not a guarantee of compensation.

iDirect Government is an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or protected veteran status. 

- Contributing to architectural vision and customer-driven objectives on adoption of next generation terrestrial, cellular, wireless, and satellite waveforms/propagation and their interactions, including for example DVB-S2X - Performing systems engineering and architecture development using new and emerging technologies into the iDirect Government solution sets - Ability to bring together a complex technology set including RF, interference mitigation, networking/routing, network management, monitoring, etc. into a usable solution for a non-satellite expert user community - Producing mathematical simulations of communication channels enabling the study of both channel improvement measures, such as pre-distortion/pre-coding as well as overall satellite communication system efficiency, such as interference mitigation/cancellation, successive interference cancellation, multiuser detection (MUD), and phased array antenna techniques (both space and ground segments) - Leading the design for further advances in adaptive TDMA, SCPC, DAMA, and IoT return channels, including modeling and design of control loops and algorithms for real time embedded system implementation - Participating with standards bodies to ensure proposed standards affecting iDirect are technically sound and aligned with the company’s interests - Partnering with customers, business development partners, and the executive management team on innovative advancements to our product line - Winning customer confidence through integrity, thought leadership, technical communication, problem solving, capability demonstrations and requirements negotiations - Writing internal and external facing documents about iDirect Government technology - Facilitating collaboration with the platform team and other engineering functions on system design issues - Maintaining a high level of awareness of competitive developments, technological trends, and of complimentary third-party technologies