Senior Principal Software Architect

Job Description

SAIC is seeking a Senior Principal Software Architect to join the Joint Range Extension (JRE) software development team. This is a remote role within the U.S.

JRE is a combat-proven datalink gateway that plays a vital role in the defense of the United States and our allies by extending the reach of tactical data across the battlespace and around the globe. As a Senior Principal Software Architect on the team, you'll play a leading role in shaping JRE's future.

Key Responsibilities

Architecture Strategy and Design

• Collaborate with JRE's chief software architect to define the architectural vision, strategy, and technical roadmap for JRE
• Contribute to leading the team in making high-level design decisions and technology selections, documenting trade-offs and rationale
• Produce and maintain architecture artifacts, including an architecture description, component design documentation, architecture diagrams (C4, DoDAF, UML), and architecture decision records (ADRs)
• Translate business requirements and product and program goals into technical designs that meet both functional and non-functional criteria
• Develop proofs of concept and prototypes to validate architectural choices

Standards, Governance, and Quality

• Evolve the architectural principles, patterns, and standards used for JRE
• Lead architecture and pull-request reviews, providing constructive feedback on designs and significant implementations
• Ensure JRE meets key quality attributes such as scalability, reliability, performance, security, maintainability, and operability
• Manage technical debt and inflation, strategically incorporating the remediation of legacy debt into the product roadmap

Collaboration and Leadership

• Partner with product management to align technical strategy with business goals
• Mentor and coach engineers on design patterns, systems thinking, and architectural reasoning
• Communicate complex technical concepts clearly to executives, peers, and non-technical stakeholders
• Contribute to interviewing and hiring decisions for engineering roles

Execution and Evolution

• Evaluate emerging technologies, frameworks, and tools; make recommendations that balance risk, cost, and time-to-value
• Guide large-scale modernization initiatives
• Support incident reviews and post-mortems where root causes touch architectural decisions

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

Technical Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience designing and delivering large-scale, mission-critical systems
• Experience effectively leading the design and architecture of multi-million-line codebases
• Experience leading significant architectural evolutions (e.g., monolith decomposition, major re-platforming)
• Fluency with domain-driven design; object-oriented, functional, and enterprise systems design patterns; software design principles; and refactoring techniques
• Proficiency with modern distributed systems patterns (APIs, messaging/event-driven, service boundaries, data consistency trade-offs)
• Deep experience with the Java platform; including fluency with Java, and familiarity with JVM languages such as Kotlin or Scala
• Experience with modern deployment practices for cloud and edge systems
• Security-by-design mindset and working knowledge of common threat models
• Knowledge of test automation principles and best practices

Leadership Qualifications

• Proven ability to lead and work collaboratively, and influence at all levels regardless of direct authority
• Growth mindset and a track record of elevating other engineers
• Demonstrated ability to gain the trust of others and elicit their highest level of contribution
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

Credentials and Education

• Bachelor's or higher degree in computer science, software engineering, or a related field; relevant experience to be substituted in lieu of degree
• 15+ years of professional software engineering experience, including 5+ years in an architect or lead engineering capacity
• U.S. citizenship and eligibility to obtain a secret clearance or higher

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in the C5ISR domain, particularly with tactical data links, situational awareness, and command and control systems, or comparable mission-critical, high-reliability, near-real-time systems
• Knowledge of MIL-STDs such as 6016, 6017, 3011, 6020, 6040, and 2525; tactical terminals and radios such as MIDS JTRS, STT, AN/ARC, and AN/PRC; GPS and inertial navigation systems protocols such as NMEA 0183 and GPS-153; avionics standards such as ARINC 429 and 661; and industry security standards such as DISA STIGs, and NIST SP 800-171 and 800-207
• Experience with network programming, networking protocols, and the low-level processing of binary data
• Experience with native development with C and C++
• Active contributions to open source, technical writing, or speaking

About Us

SAIC® is a premier mission integrator focused on advancing the power of technology and innovation to serve and protect our world. Our robust portfolio of offerings across the defense, space, intelligence, and civilian markets includes secure high-end solutions in mission IT, enterprise IT, engineering services, and professional services. We integrate emerging technology, rapidly and securely, into mission critical operations that modernize and enable critical national imperatives.


We are approximately 23,000 strong; driven by mission, united by purpose, and inspired by opportunities. SAIC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, SAIC has annual revenues of approximately $7.3 billion. For more information, visit saic.com. For ongoing news, please visit our newsroom.