Space Systems Security Architect

Dragonfli Group is a cybersecurity and IT consulting firm providing services to federal agencies and Fortune 100 enterprises. Headquartered in Washington, DC, Dragonfli supports clients in securing mission-critical systems across on-site, hybrid, and fully remote environments.

We are seeking a Lead Product Engineer / Architect to serve as the senior technical authority for a satellite cybersecurity offering supporting emerging space companies, satellite operators, primes, and large constellation operators. In this role, you will shape the technical vision, architecture, and engineering standards across cyber, software, hardware, AI, space, ground, and user segments, translating complex mission and security requirements into scalable, commercially viable solutions deployed repeatedly across clients. You will own the long-term target architecture, serve as the senior technical authority for release-readiness and engineering tradeoffs, lead technical integration across multidisciplinary teams, and guide system-level test strategy from research through production. This role calls for 10 or more years of experience leading complex cybersecurity, aerospace, or mission-critical systems to production, with the judgment to translate frameworks such as NIST, CMMC, and STIGs into executable, compliance-ready designs.

This is a contract position involving a large commercial enterprise in the commercial space technology sector. Candidates with previous consulting or contracting experience are preferred. U.S. Citizenship or Permanent Residency is required. If hired, all work related to this role must be performed within the continental U.S.



Responsibilities

• Own the long-term architecture: target architectures, interfaces, trust boundaries, and patterns across the space, ground, and user segments, with security by design embedded throughout a multi-year roadmap.
• Serve as the senior technical authority for release-readiness gates, engineering standards, and architecture tradeoffs, making pragmatic decisions that protect system integrity and mission outcomes.
• Lead technical integration across multidisciplinary delivery spanning cyber, software, hardware, AI, and systems; unblock teams, ensure implementation consistency, and bridge research to production.
• Productize solutions for scale so they deploy repeatably across different client satellites and constellation profiles as the offering grows.
• Guide system-level test strategy and execution across integration, security validation, mission-readiness, and operational acceptance, including support for failure analysis and root-cause resolution.
• Translate relevant frameworks (NIST, CMMC, ATO/STIGs, and related space threat models as applicable) into executable delivery controls and compliance-ready designs for commercial and government-adjacent clients.
• Lead technical-vision discussions with clients and executives; serve as the cross-domain technical authority workstream leads consult on hard tradeoffs, and grow them into stronger architects and engineers.

Must-Have

• Bachelor's degree required.
• Must be a U.S. Citizen (this role's stated citizenship requirement is stricter than standard permanent-residency eligibility; see Recruiter Notes).
• 10+ years of experience as a product engineer, solution architect, systems architect, technical product leader, or similar role delivering complex cyber, aerospace, space, embedded, or mission-critical systems.
• Proven leadership delivering complex, multidisciplinary cyber and/or space systems to production and operations.
• Deep experience designing secure architectures across cloud, on-premises, hybrid, and space/embedded constraints, with strong systems-thinking and an integration background.
• Demonstrated authorship of reference architectures, patterns, or platforms adopted by multiple teams, ideally productized offerings deployed across more than one client or environment.
• Sufficient cross-domain depth (embedded/space, AI/ML, ground segment, cloud/DevOps) to serve as the senior technical sounding board for specialist workstream leads.
• Strong grasp of security architecture: identity, key management, secure boot and update, segmentation, data protection, logging and telemetry, and supply chain.
• Experience operating under compliance constraints (NIST, ATO, STIGs, CMMC as applicable) and translating them into executable delivery controls.
• Calm, decisive leadership under uncertainty, with strong incident- and risk-management discipline.
• Proven ability to influence without direct authority, with excellent written and verbal communication across technical and executive audiences.
• Willingness and ability to travel 20 to 60 percent, based on clients and events.

Preferred / Nice-to-Have

• Experience taking a product or platform to market commercially: pilots, co-development, or first-of-kind deployments with external clients.
• Experience with satellite mission operations or aerospace delivery environments.
• Background in embedded and real-time systems integration.
• Familiarity with AI/ML model deployment pipelines in constrained environments.
• Background in space-focused threat research or attack frameworks.
• Active security clearance (Secret or higher) for government-adjacent commercial work.
• Working fluency across the platform tech stack: embedded/space (C, POSIX, real-time OS); AI/ML (Python, PyTorch); ground segment (Docker, Grafana, MQTT, Node.js); CI/CD and DevOps (GitHub Actions, automated security scanning, containerized deployments).

Technical Skills

• Systems and security architecture design across cloud, on-premises, hybrid, and embedded/space environments
• Secure SDLC and DevSecOps practices
• Cybersecurity compliance frameworks (NIST, CMMC, ATO/STIGs)
• Embedded and real-time systems (C, POSIX, RTOS)
• AI/ML pipeline integration (Python, PyTorch)
• Containerization and CI/CD (Docker, GitHub Actions)
• Ground segment tooling (Grafana, MQTT, Node.js)
• Identity and key management, secure boot and update design
• Systems integration, test strategy, and failure/root-cause analysis

Soft Skills

• Executive-level technical communication
• Cross-functional leadership without direct authority
• Mentorship and development of engineering leads
• Decisive risk management under uncertainty
• Stakeholder influence and negotiation
• Strategic and technical vision-setting

• Medical: Multiple POS health plan options including an HSA-compatible plan
• Dental: PPO coverage for preventive, basic, and major services
• Vision: Annual exam, frames, lenses, and contact lens allowance
• 401(k): Employer match up to 5% of eligible compensation
• Long-Term Disability: 100% employer-paid coverage at 50% of pre-disability earnings
• Life Insurance & AD&D: 100% employer-paid coverage valued at $10,000 each
• PTO: 15 to 25 days annually based on tenure
• Paid Federal Holidays: All 11 federal holidays observed

Travel 20 to 60 percent, based on clients and events. Travel expenses are covered by Dragonfli Group.