Sovereign Defense Platform Architect

SkyWatch; Ottawa; Hybrid; CAD 200,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

On-site or hybrid work from Ottawa

Stock options

Job summary

SkyWatch in Ottawa is seeking a Principal Architect to own the sovereign product line architecture and roadmaps for Government & Defence engineering. You will build the team from scratch, hire engineers, and serve as the technical acceptance authority at milestones, ensuring delivery that meets security, interoperability, and user needs.

Reporting to the CEO, you will shape a deployable sovereign platform in private cloud, on premises and air‑gapped environments, coordinating with government

Qualifications

• 10+ years building production software, including leadership roles on secure/defence systems.
• Hands-on experience with on-premises/private-cloud or air-gapped deployment and security controls.
• Experience leading an engineering team through milestone-based delivery for a government customer.
• Software designed for analysts/operators with usability in mind.
• Ability to balance cost, time-to-market and value when making build decisions.
• Canadian citizenship and eligibility for Government security clearance (Secret or higher).
• Experience with geospatial, imagery or ISR data and defence interoperability standards.
• Experience deploying LLM/agent systems in regulated environments.

Responsibilities

• Own the sovereign architecture for the product line and the roadmap; deliver milestones.
• Lead accreditation and security evidence including ITSG-33 controls with built-in audit/logging.
• Ensure high-quality user experience even in secure, offline or constrained environments.
• Deliver interoperability with standards like NITF/NSIF, SIDD, GeoPackage, STANAG 4559.

Skills

Systems architecture

Security/compliance

Geospatial data

Team leadership

AI/Agent systems

Trade-off decisions

Security clearance

Job description

SkyWatch in Ottawa is seeking a Principal Architect to own the sovereign product line architecture and roadmaps for Government & Defence engineering. You will build the team from scratch, hire engineers, and serve as the technical acceptance authority at milestones, ensuring delivery that meets security, interoperability, and user needs.

Reporting to the CEO, you will shape a deployable sovereign platform in private cloud, on premises and air‑gapped environments, coordinating with government