OSS & Automation Architect

AST SpaceMobile is building the first and only global cellular broadband network in space to operate directly with standard, unmodified mobile devices based on our extensive IP and patent portfolio and designed for both commercial and government applications. Our engineers and space scientists are on a mission to eliminate the connectivity gaps faced by today’s five billion mobile subscribers and finally bring broadband to the billions who remain unconnected.Position OverviewWe are seeking an OSS & Automation Architect to serve as the technical bridge between AST's internal stakeholders and the AST OSS engineering team. This is a dual-facing role - outward toward internal business stakeholders and teams in Service Assurance, Service Delivery, and Service Enablement; and inward toward the OSS engineering team and other technical teams to translate what those stakeholders need into precise, buildable specifications.You will work in close conjunction with the OSS SW Platform Architect, contributing to Architecture Decision Records (ADRs), Functional Requirements (FRs), and Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs) that shape the AST OSS platform. Where the Platform Architect sets the technical direction, you own the requirements surface - ensuring the architecture reflects real operational needs and that the OSS platform team is never building on assumptions.This role requires equal command of business process analysis and OSS/automation domain knowledge. You must be credible in discussion with business process owners and equally credible in a design session with a technical team.Key Responsibilities:Act as the primary liaison for internal customers - Service Assurance, Service Delivery, Service Enablement, and adjacent teams - representing the OSS program on-siteCapture business processes, operational pain points, and automation opportunities with the depth needed for engineering hand-offTranslate business requirements into well-structured Functional Requirements (FRs) and Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs)Contribute requirements context and operational constraints to every major design decisionDefine automation requirements for OSS workflows - fault management, performance management, configuration management, and partner on-boarding - translating manual operational processes into automation specsIdentify and design integration points between OSS and internal systems (ERP, CRM, Jira, custom tooling)Identify candidates for workflow automation, define governance rules, and specify the business logic that drives automated decisionsParticipate in sprint reviews and architecture sessions with the OSS platform team and validate delivered functionality against acceptance requirementsMaintain documentation for all business processes, requirements decisions, and OSS capability mappingCreate and maintain a roadmap of automation opportunities ranked by operational impactProactively surface new automation and integration opportunities from ongoing stakeholder engagement, without waiting for formal project kick-offsQualificationsEducation:Bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science, Telecommunications Engineering, or a related field - or equivalent professional experience.Experience:A minimum of 7+ years in solutions architecture, systems integration, or OSS/BSS architecture roles within the telecom industry.Deep working knowledge of OSS functions - fault management, service provisioning, performance management, service assurance - and how they integrate with downstream enterprise IT landscapeHands-on experience with commercial OSS platforms (Ericsson OSSA, Nokia NSP, NetCracker, Amdocs, Rakuten Symphony or other)Experience with TM Forum Open APIs and the eTOM/TAM business process and application frameworksBackground in ITIL-aligned service management processes, particularly service assurance and incident management workflowsExperience with workflow and BPM tooling (Camunda, Airflow, ServiceNow, or equivalent) from a requirements or design perspectiveProven ability to elicit, structure, and deliver FRs and NFRs from business stakeholders in a form directly usable by an engineering teamExperience specifying workflow automation for telecom operations: trigger conditions, state machines, exception handling, and governance rules for automated decisionsExperience specifying integrations between OSS and adjacent systems (ERP, CRM) familiarity with REST APIs, event-driven integration, and data contract designSoft Skills:Naturally translates between the language of operations ("we need to know when a handover fails") and the language of engineering ("define the fault event schema and notification SLA") without losing fidelity in either directionImpose clarity on ambiguous stakeholder inputs - produce artefacts that leave no room for the technical team to guess at intentDo not wait for requirements to be handed over - actively hunt for process gaps, automation opportunities, and misalignments before they become delivery problemsSkilled at maintaining productive working relationships with a team several time zones awayRequirements artefacts are exact, versioned, and traceable - consider edge cases and exception flows, not just happy pathsTechnology Stack:RESTful APIs, AsyncAPI & event-driven messaging (Kafka, RabbitMQ), TMF Open APIs, NETCONF/YANG, SNMPCamunda, Apache Airflow or equivalent BPM toolingTM Forum eTOM/TAM, TOGAF or ArchiMate (working knowledge)AWS, Docker, Kubernetes (working familiarity)Git (for specification and configuration artefact management, working knowledge)Confluence, JIRA, C4, draw.io, Mermaid, PlantUMLPhysical RequirementsAbility to work in a standard office or remote home-office environment and use a computer for extended periodsAbility to participate in occasional after-hours incident response actionsThis job description may not be inclusive to the duties and responsibilities listed. Additional tasks may be assigned to the employee from time to time or the scope of the job may change as needed by business demands.AST SpaceMobile is an Equal Opportunity, at will Employer; employment is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.