Job Details

Job Title: Aircraft Services Architect

Location: Portland, OR

Duration: Long Term

Job Summary

The Aircraft Services Architect will provide technical leadership and architectural expertisefor complex aviation software systems. This role is responsible for defining, designing, and governing secure, scalable, and standards-compliant architectures for aircraft and in-flight systems. The position ensures compliance with aviation regulations such as DO-178C, DAL-D/E, and Security Assurance Levels (SAL) while enabling integration across multiple aircraft domains and platforms.

Key Responsibilities

• Define system-level and product-level requirements, including both functional and non-functional requirements, for aviation software systems.
• Translate requirements into technical specifications, architecture designs, and implementation artifacts.
• Design and govern system and software architectures that meet DAL-D/E and SAL 1–3 assurance requirements, including domain and data segregation.
• Lead architecture design for hosting platforms leveraging cloud-native virtualization technologies.
• Ensure compliance with DO-178C and other applicable aviation safety and regulatory standards.
• Collaborate with engineering teams, aircraft OEMs, and manufacturers for system integration, validation, and certification activities.
• Design and implement secure system architectures, including secure boot, secure firmware updates, encryption, authentication, and secure communication protocols.
• Support Agile development teams, including participation in PI planning, sprint reviews, and architecture/design reviews.
• Develop and maintain architecture diagrams, design documentation, and test strategy reviews.
• Act as a technical leader and mentor, guiding teams on best practices, resolving design challenges, and improving engineering processes.

Required Skills & Expertise

Aviation Software Architecture

• Extensive experience designing and implementing large-scale, complex aviation software systems.

Compliance & Standards

• Strong knowledge of DO-178C, DAL-D/E, SAL levels, and aviation security standards.

Security

• Hands-on expertise in encryption, authentication, access control, threat modeling, secure boot, and secure firmware updates.

Virtualization & Hosting

• Experience with cloud-native virtualization technologies for hosting and platform architectures.

Programming & Platforms

• Proficiency in C++, GoLang, Java, and Python.
• Experience with Linux kernel programming and embedded/Linux-based systems.

Databases

• Working knowledge of MySQL, MariaDB, and SQLite.

Quality & Process

• Strong understanding of aviation software QA processes, including verification, validation, and SQA.
• Experience working within SAFe or SCRUM Agile frameworks.

Nice-to-Have Skills

• Experience with AWS Cloud and cloud-native architectures.
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices.
• Exposure to architecture and collaboration tools such as Confluence, Visio, Draw.io.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field.
• 8+ years of experience in aviation software architecture and design.
• Prior experience working with aircraft OEMs or aviation systems is highly desirable.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, communication, and leadership skills.
• Proven ability to collaborate with global, cross-functional teams.