Principal Software Architect (UK)

Meridian is building a fundamentally new model for sovereign space infrastructure—delivering complete, owned Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellations that provide governments and commercial operators with full control, assured access, and sovereign communications capability at a fraction of the cost of developing these systems independently. Backed by leading venture capital investors and engineering partners, we are rapidly scaling the design, production, and deployment of the satellites, ground systems, and network infrastructure that will power Meridian's next-generation constellations.

Joining Meridian means working at the forefront of one of the world's most ambitious space programs underway today - designing and building constellations that will put sovereign connectivity within reach of nations and operators worldwide. You'll be part of a close-knit, collaborative team that thrives in a fast-paced, innovative environment, where your work directly advances the design, development, and deployment of satellite constellations that governments and enterprises around the world will depend on for secure, resilient, and sovereign connectivity.

Your Mission on the Team:

As our Principal Software Architect, you will own the software architecture and full-stack development for the distributed platforms driving the Meridian Ground Segment. In this pivotal leadership role, you will define the software blueprint that transforms complex telecommunications theory into a living, breathing, high-performance global network. You will bridge cloud-native infrastructure with high-performance edge environments to deliver a robust, highly available terrestrial backbone. This includes:

• Designing, developing, and maintaining full-stack software solutions for the Meridian Ground Segment, bridging distributed cloud environments with edge networking products.
• Architecting scalable software frameworks for the entire ground network, encompassing the radio access processing nodes, the centralized packet routing and core control planes, the constellation-aware network orchestration functions, and the unified operations and administration platforms.
• Driving the transition of network applications into scalable, cloud-native microservices utilizing container orchestration, service mesh routing, and modern API design.
• Overseeing the software design and integration of virtualized and containerized environments, leveraging high-performance data plane technologies (such as DPDK, SR-IOV, or eBPF) and real-time Linux kernel tuning to ensure near line-rate processing for distributed network nodes.
• Leading software design reviews and providing technical mentorship to engineering teams to ensure the delivery of resilient, telecom-grade platforms.
• Interfacing directly with customers, external partners, and domain-expert network architects to shape technical requirements and drive the execution of ground network features.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, software engineering, electrical engineering, or a related field.
• Minimum 10 years of professional software engineering experience, spanning cloud architectures, distributed systems, and edge environments.
• Strong proficiency in a mix of modern programming languages including C/C++, Golang, Python, Java, or Rust.

Cloud-Native & Infrastructure:

• Extensive hands-on experience with cloud-native orchestration and containerization frameworks (Kubernetes, Docker, Helm).
• Experience with infrastructure-as-code, configuration management (Ansible, Terraform), and network automation protocols (NetConf, YANG).

Distributed Systems & Observability:

• Deep familiarity with modern distributed systems tooling, including RESTful APIs, gRPC, message brokers (Kafka, NATS), and data serialization formats (JSON, YAML).
• Demonstrated expertise in system observability, telemetry, and monitoring stacks (Prometheus, Grafana).

High-Performance Networking:

• Knowledge of high-performance packet processing techniques (e.g., DPDK, eBPF) and low-latency systems tuning.
• Proficiency in network protocols and architecture, including TCP/IP, UDP, routing, and network performance optimization.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's degree in computer science, software engineering, telecommunications, or a related field.
• Deep understanding of 3GPP 5G Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) standards, particularly Release 17/18 architecture encompassing both the Next Generation Radio Access Network (NG-RAN) and 5G Core (5GC).
• Experience with advanced telecom software architectures, including Policy Control Function (PCF/PCRF), IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), and VoLTE/TAS solutions.
• Experience working in ESA, defense, or similarly regulated environments.

Meridian Space UK Limited is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. Each individual has the right to work in a professional environment that promotes equal employment opportunity and prohibits discriminatory practices, including harassment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status.