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Systems Design/Architecture Engineer

Kratos Defense
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Colorado Springs, CO, USA
Sep 20, 2026

Job Description

Readiness Delivered. At Kratos, we encourage an entrepreneurial spirit balanced with discipline. We work hard, and take care of our customers, employees, and families. Recognized as thought leaders in our industry, we are motivated by creating and delivering innovative solutions to our nation and global customers. The Lead Systems Architect plays a critical role in shaping and maintaining the technical vision, architecture, and engineering strategy for the CCS-C program. This position guides complex, multidisciplinary engineering efforts across the full system lifecycle-from requirements and design through integration, verification, validation, and production transition. Serving as a key technical authority, the architect ensures architectural consistency, drives technical decision-making, evaluates trade studies, mitigates risks, and supports milestone readiness. This role requires a deep understanding of mission-critical aerospace and defense systems, along with the leadership ability to mentor engineers, interface with customers and partners, and support the chief engineer in delivering a robust, compliant, and forward-looking system architecture.
  • Support the Chief Engineer in defining and maintaining the CCS-C technical vision, system architecture, and engineering strategy.
  • Lead the development, evaluation, and maturation of system and subsystem architectures.
  • Ensure technical requirements are complete, traceable, verifiable, and appropriately allocated across systems, subsystems, hardware, software, and interfaces.
  • Guide multidisciplinary engineering teams through requirements analysis, design, integration, verification, validation, qualification, and production transition.
  • Evaluate design alternatives and technical trade studies involving performance, cost, schedule, risk, reliability, producibility, maintainability, and lifecycle considerations.
  • Ensure consistency between the approved architecture, detailed designs, interface definitions, models, analyses, and verification plans.
  • Chair or support technical reviews, including requirements reviews, system design reviews, preliminary design reviews, critical design reviews, test readiness reviews, and configuration control boards.
  • Identify, document, communicate, and drive closure of technical risks, issues, assumptions, and opportunities.
  • Provide independent technical assessment of design maturity, engineering performance, and readiness to proceed through program milestones.
  • Coordinate technical decisions across engineering disciplines, program management, operations, manufacturing, quality, supply chain, and customer organizations.
  • Review and approve key engineering plans, specifications, drawings, analyses, interface documentation, test plans, and technical reports within delegated authority.
  • Ensure compliance with applicable C-SAR contractual requirements, internal engineering processes, industry standards, airworthiness requirements, and customer expectations.
  • Support technical interchange meetings and design reviews with customers, suppliers, government representatives, and external partners.
  • Provide technical guidance and mentoring to engineering leads and developing technical talent.
  • Assist with engineering staffing, capability planning, proposal development, basis-of-estimate preparation, and technical content for new business opportunities.
  • Serve as the delegated technical authority when the chief engineer is unavailable.

Experience and Skills

  • Bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering, systems engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer engineering, applied mathematics, or a closely related technical field.
  • Minimum of 7 years of progressively responsible engineering experience involving complex aerospace, defense, or mission-critical systems.
  • Proficiency in modern architectural patterns like microservices, event-driven architecture, and hybrid cloud solutions to design scalable and resilient systems
  • Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities to design innovative solutions and anticipate potential issues in complex, distributed systems.
  • Experience throughout the complete engineering lifecycle, including requirements, design, integration, verification, validation, qualification, and production or deployment.
  • Strong understanding of systems-engineering principles, requirements management, interface management, configuration management, and technical risk management.
  • Strong written, verbal, analytical, and executive-level communication skills.
  • Ability to communicate complex technical matters to engineering teams, program leadership, customers, and nontechnical stakeholders.
  • Ability to obtain and maintain the security clearance required for the assigned program.

Preferred Skills/Experience

  • Experience with CCS-C architecture or other Telemetry, Tracking, and Command Ground Systems
  • Strong familiarity with USSF MILSATCOM or other USSF programs
  • Experience leading technical teams or coordinating engineering activities across multiple functional organizations.
  • Demonstrated ability to lead technical trade studies and make well-supported engineering decisions under cost and schedule constraints.
  • Hands-on experience integrating Cross Domain Solutions (CDS) to facilitate data transfers through multiple environments
  • Experience developing and integrating architectural roadmaps across multiple task orders or projects.
  • Active contribution to artifacts required for Authority to Operate (ATO) and / or Interim Authority to Test (IATT)
  • Experience conducting or supporting formal technical reviews.
  • Experience with model-based systems engineering and tools (specifically Cameo Systems Modeler)
  • Experience with proposal development to include engineering staffing, capability planning, basis-of-estimate preparation, and technical content creation

#LI-Hybrid

Competitive salary based on experience and education
Salary Range: $175,000-$190,000

Kratos is valued for our ability to design and deliver leading edge, resilient solutions for aerospace communication, control, awareness and mission success across a continuum of offerings-from commercial to tailored custom solutions and integrated programs. Customers trust us to stay relevant and know we are in it for the long-haul. We bring both the capability and confidence that our customers value and depend on. And we always deliver.

This posting will close within 90 days from the Posting Date.   

Benefits

  • Medical, Dental & Vision Insurance Coverage
  • Life/ADD & Short/Long Term Disability Insurance
  • 401(k) Savings Plan
  • Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP)
  • Paid Time-Off (PTO)
  • Holidays
  • Education Reimbursement

Job ID

370043
About Kratos Defense

Kratos engineers and deploys technology and systems that continuously move national security forward, with the cost, speed, and reliability that make readiness certain. Learn more about Kratos below.

Kratos. Readiness Delivered.

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