Software Systems Engineer

ASRC Federal Data Networks Corporation (DNC) is seeking a Software Systems Engineer to serve as the critical technical integrator within the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS) Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) ecosystem.  Operating at the Release and Requirements Management level, this role bridges the gap between high-level government strategy and multi-vendor execution.  Our contract team supports the Office of Space Commerce, Space Operations Division, TraCSS Engineering Branch located in Suitland MD.

The candidate will take strategic direction from the Government Business Owner, Program Management, and Product Owners to ensure systemic technical integrity across the TraCSS enterprise.  Acting as a collaborative technical leader, you will work hand-in-hand with the System Integrator’s Release Train Engineer (RTE) and coordinate directly with the System Integrator and Presentation Layer Scrum Masters to clear program-level technical roadblocks, refine backlogs, and maintain a robust architectural runway.

Background Summary:

The Office of Space Commerce (OSC), is developing the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS) to fulfill Space Policy Directive 3 (SPD-3).  SPD-3 instructed relevant US government agencies to begin re-assigning many aspects of space traffic management (STM) and space traffic coordination (STC) serving non-military US space operators.  OSC, under the US Department of Commerce (DOC), was identified to lead many of these efforts as part of a ‘whole of government’ approach.

TraCSS is the Office of Space Commerce’s cloud-based enterprise solution for ingesting, archiving, processing, and disseminating Space Situational Awareness (SSA) data and products.  It will provide conjunction analysis and warning services to commercial satellite owner/operators to foster economic growth and technological advancement of the US commercial space industry.  The system will store data from the Department of Defense (DoD), NOAA, commercial SSA data providers, commercial and civil satellite Owner/Operators (O/O), and select international civil partners.  The TraCSS system will operate 24 hours per day, 7 days a week.

Key Responsibilities:

SAFe Technical Leadership: Own the technical "big picture" for system integration across the Agile Release Train (ART). Partner with the System Integrator's RTE to ensure multi-vendor scrum teams remain aligned with the broader product vision.

Cross-Vendor Integration & Synchronization: Coordinate directly with the Presentation Layer and System Integrator contractors, satellite Owner/Operators (O/Os), and commercial vendors to identify, analyze, and resolve complex engineering and integration issues.

Requirements & Backlog Refinement: Collaborate closely with the TraCSS Requirements Engineer to translate high-level stakeholder needs into technical clarity. Assist Product Owners in Epic/Story creation, technical dependency mapping, and backlog refinement.

Risk Management: Identify technical risks, constraints, and dependencies, providing mitigation strategies and troubleshooting escalated system failures.

Interagency & Industry Liaison: Represent the Systems Engineering integrated program team in technical discussions with commercial space situational awareness providers, civil operators, federal agencies, and industry partners to track studies and align data standards.

Required Skillset & Technical Qualifications

Architectural & Software Engineering Core

Languages & Frameworks: Hands-on mastery of Java and Python for high-performance service development, scripting, and data processing.

Microservices & Patterns: Expertise in designing, building, and decoupling distributed systems using modern Microservices Architecture and enterprise Software Design Patterns (e.g., Domain-Driven Design, Event-Driven Architecture, CQRS, Circuit Breaker).

Database Design & Optimization: Deep experience in schema design, query optimization, indexing, and performance tuning across both Relational (SQL) (e.g., PostgreSQL, MySQL) and NoSQL databases (e.g., MongoDB, DynamoDB).

Distributed Systems & Infrastructure

Message Streaming: In-depth knowledge of Apache Kafka for high-throughput event streaming, message broker patterns, event-driven integrations, and queue optimization.

Containerization & Orchestration: Advanced, practical understanding of Kubernetes (K8s) for container management, deployment strategies (Canary, Blue/Green), ingress controllers, and cluster scaling.

Cloud Infrastructure: Strong hands-on proficiency with major cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP), including core services (compute, storage, networking, IAM), Infrastructure as Code (Terraform or CloudFormation), and cloud security best practices.

Collaborative Leadership & Delivery

Technical Leadership: Demonstrated ability to lead technical discussions, define architectural vision, review code, guide multi-functional engineering teams, and drive technical alignment across sub-teams.

CI/CD & DevOps Practices: Experience building and maintaining robust CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI) and monitoring solutions (Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog) to ensure system reliability and observability.

Requirements & Risk Management: Proficiency with the Atlassian Suite (Jira, Jira Service Management, Confluence) for tracking requirements, dependencies, and program risks.

Compliance & Education

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, or a related technical field.

Experience:  5-7 years’ operating as a System Engineer, Solution Architect, or Product Owner within a Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) environment or on a large-scale Agile Release Train (ART).

Background Processing: Must pass NOAA background screening and sign a mandatory Office of Space Commerce Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA).

Citizenship: US Citizenship required.

Highly Desired Qualifications:

Space Domain Awareness

Experience: Systems engineering experience in satellite operations, space situational awareness, or space traffic management environments.

Technical Foundations: Understanding of astrodynamics, orbital mechanics, covariance realism, conjunction assessment, and risk mitigation maneuver planning methodologies.

Data Competency: Familiarity with the ingestion, processing, and dissemination of Space Situational Awareness data products including Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) data standards.

Work Environment and Physical Demands:

Work in a typical onsite government office building full time (5-days per week) with situational telework approved as needed.

Occasional deadlines or operational conditions may require non-standard/longer hours or additional onsite support.

Infrequent travel required.

Place of performance will be the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility located on the Suitland Federal Center in Suitland MD.