Senior Solutions Architect

Title:

Belong. Connect. Grow. with KBR

KBR is seeking a Senior Solutions Architect to join our team in the greater El Segundo, CA area. Our customer is standing up a state-of-the-art suite of enterprise-level applications using an evolving Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) technology stack. This effort represents a fundamental shift in how the DoD procures and delivers software, leveraging Agile practices common in commercial environments while fostering a collaborative, startup-like culture that values innovation and work-life balance.

As a Senior Solutions Architect, you will be a key technical leader responsible for defining, shaping, and evolving end-to-end software and platform solutions that support the U.S. Space Force mission. You will work closely with users, stakeholders, and product owners to translate mission needs into well-architected, scalable technical solutions, while guiding development teams through implementation.

This role requires a strong architectural mindset, deep software engineering experience, and the ability to operate effectively across organizational boundaries, including frequent interaction with government customers and mission stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the architecture and solution design for enterprise-scale applications and platform services
• Engage directly with users, mission stakeholders, and product owners to elicit, clarify, and decompose requirements into actionable architectural designs and technical backlogs
• Define system-level and application-level architectures, including trade studies, technology selection, and interface definitions
• Provide architectural guidance to development teams, ensuring alignment with enterprise standards, security requirements, and long-term maintainability
• Act as a technical bridge between mission needs and engineering execution, ensuring solutions are fit-for-purpose and operationally viable
• Mentor engineers and contribute to technical decision-making across multiple teams

Required:

• An active Secret clearance required for this position
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related technical discipline (or equivalent experience)
• 10+ years of professional experience in software engineering or related technical roles
• 2+ years of experience in software or solution architecture
• 2+ years of DevOps or platform engineering experience
• 4+ years of hands-on experience with:
  • Microservices architectures
  • Linux-based systems
  • Java and Spring Boot
  • Scripting (Python and/or Bash)
  • CI/CD platforms (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, etc.)
  • Docker and containerized environments
  • Message queues and event-driven systems (Kafka, RabbitMQ)
  • SQL and NoSQL databases (PostgreSQL, Redis, MongoDB)
• Experience working in Agile environments, including decomposing user stories and shaping backlogs
• Deep understanding of software architecture principles and patterns, with the ability to design complex, scalable, and maintainable systems
• Experience designing microservices-based architectures, including API design and decomposition of monolithic systems
• Strong background in requirements decomposition, translating user and stakeholder needs into architectural solutions
• Expertise in database architecture and data modeling, including relational and NoSQL technologies
• Experience designing event-driven systems, including event sourcing and CQRS patterns
• CI/CD pipeline architecture and implementation, including security scanning and compliance considerations
• Containerization expertise, including Docker image creation, hardening, and scanning
• Linux systems architecture and administration experience
• Strong understanding of Agile software development methodologies
• Proficiency with scripting languages (e.g., Python, Bash)
• Strong background in Java and Spring Boot
• Experience providing technical leadership to software teams, both internal and external
• Ability to clearly communicate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders

SATCOM Domain Expertise (Required):

• Background in SATCOM systems, including ground, space, and network integration considerations
• Understanding of EMI / EMC impacts on SATCOM systems and associated software and infrastructure
• Familiarity with SATCOM service ordering and provisioning workflows, including:
  • Capacity requests and service activation
  • Integration with mission planning and operational systems
  • Data flows between ordering, management, and monitoring systems
• Ability to translate SATCOM operational needs into software and platform requirements

Preferred:

• Deployment and configuration management tooling (Terraform, Ansible, CloudFormation)
• Observability platforms (Prometheus, Grafana, ELK stack)
• Cloud-native security and compliance tooling
• Experience operating in distributed governance environments where infrastructure, networking, and platforms are owned by different stakeholders
• Experience integrating heterogeneous teams and systems into cohesive enterprise solutions
• Proven ability to provide architectural guidance to both front-end and back-end development teams
• Kubernetes architecture and operations (cluster design, administration, monitoring)
• Infrastructure-as-Code (e.g., Terraform, Ansible, CloudFormation)
• Static and Dynamic Application Security Testing (SAST/DAST)
• Cloud architecture experience (AWS, Azure, GCP, Oracle Cloud, or equivalent)
• Event streaming platforms such as Kafka
• Front-end architecture familiarity (e.g., Angular)
• GitOps and deployment tooling (e.g., ArgoCD, Helm)
• Service mesh technologies (e.g., Linkerd) and certificate management
• Identity and access management solutions (e.g., Keycloak)

Basic Compensation:  $156,000-$196,000 in California

The offered rate will be based on the selected candidate's knowledge, skills, abilities and/or experience and in consideration of internal parity.

Ready to Make a Difference?  If you're excited about making a significant impact in the field of space defense and working on projects that matter, we encourage you to apply and join our team.

KBR Benefits

KBR offers a selection of competitive lifestyle benefits which could include 401K plan with company match, medical, dental, vision, life insurance, AD&D, flexible spending