Principal End-to-End Architect

About us

One team. Global challenges. Infinite opportunities. At Viasat, we’re on a mission to deliver connections with the capacity to change the world. For more than 35 years, Viasat has helped shape how consumers, businesses, governments and militaries around the globe communicate. We’re looking for people who think big, act fearlessly, and create an inclusive environment that drives positive impact to join our team.

What you’ll do

The End-to-End Architecture team is looking for a skilled and experienced Platform Architect who will work with stakeholders from across the company to define how we translate product and operational requirements into working platforms, products and solutions. The team uses its knowledge of Viasat and its end-to-end systems to design cross-domain solutions and capabilities that can serve products across business segments, as well as supporting internal Operations teams. The team fosters a culture of systems- and platform-thinking, designing reusable solutions and common infrastructure. However, the team is also conscious of delivery and must always strike the right balance between technical excellence and commercial timelines. The team’s work is pivotal in coordinating between Product Management, Global Operations and Engineering teams from multiple domains to ensure that solutions are well-architected, that engineering teams know what to deliver, and that the solution meets requirements. The team also works closely with P3MO to shape and inform governance and delivery of projects and programmes.

The day-to-day

• Solution Design: You will own the end-to-end cross-domain architecture, developing innovative solutions to complex problems and determining whether to build new capabilities or extend existing ones. You will decompose high-level product requirements into technical requirements and solution designs that span multiple domains. You will shape the domain model and ensure architectures follow best practice.
• Solution Assessment: You will assess the feasibility of new commercial- and technology-led opportunities, building impact assessments and supporting the development of business cases.
• Technical Leadership: You will provide technical leadership and mentorship to engineering teams, providing guidance and ensuring that solutions adhere to architectural principles. You will act as trusted advisor to Product Management and Business Segments. You will work with third-party suppliers.
• Requirements Engineering: You will work with Product Management, Business Analysts and Operations teams to gather a holistic understanding of requirements and analyse those requirements against existing capabilities to maximise reuse. You will optimise the phasing of large technology delivery programmes.
• Technology Evaluation: You stay aware of emerging technologies and industry trends to find opportunities for platform enhancement and efficiency gains. You will consider when it makes sense for Viasat to rent, build or buy. You will be aware of industry frameworks and specifications and understand how best to align these to company goals.
• Strategic Thinking: You will help to shape the technology roadmap, and provide thought leadership for Viasat’s platforms, products and services. Your work will encompass hardware, software and network components.
• Knowledge Management: You will author and maintain comprehensive architectural documentation, including diagrams and specifications that describe the solution domain in varying levels of complexity.
• Engineering Collaboration: You will work closely with domain architects and technical leads to ensure that domain-specific designs meet the overall objectives. You will review high-level designs and ensure solutions are scalable, performant, reliable and operable.
• Delivery: You will work with PMO, Product Management, Engineering and Operations teams to ensure alignment, requirements traceability and successful delivery.

What you’ll need

• A Bachelor or Master’s degree (or equivalent) in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field with a strong focus on software architecture and engineering.
• 10+ years of professional software development experience, with a proven track record of end-to-end solution architecture.
• Hands-on experience of networking and SD-WAN, infrastructure and virtualisation technologies, including public, private and hybrid cloud.
• Experience of 3GPP telecommunications standards including 5G NR, NTN and NB-IoT.
• Practical experience of domain-driven design, microservices architecture, distributed systems, system decoupling, event-driven design, system choreography, integration and design patterns.
• Proven ability to think strategically about product and technology challenges.
• Proven track record of designing and developing complex systems at scale.
• Proven experience throughout the entire software development life cycle (SDLC) and Agile/iterative methodologies.
• Experience and understanding of the support and operational implications of technology solutions.
• Ability to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders, verbally, in written documentation and through technical diagrams.
• Creative problem-solving, analytical and critical thinking skills.
• Strong and proven leadership and mentoring skills.

What will help you on the job

• An understanding of existing Aviation or Maritime mobile connectivity industries and solutions.
• Demonstrable commercial and business awareness, including business cases and financial implications of technology projects.
• Experience in a customer-facing role.
• Familiarity with satellite technology.
• Experience of product strategy and iterative product delivery.
• Familiarity with Atlassian Confluence and Jira management platforms.
• Practical experience of product-led software development.
• Familiarity with networking protocols, ISPs, QoS/QoE, edge computing and infrastructure, and practical applications of SD-WAN technology.

EEO Statement

Viasat is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, seeking to create a welcoming and diverse environment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, marital status, genetics, age, or veteran status or any other applicable legally protected status or characteristic.