Senior Application Architect

K2Spacecorporation; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Medical/Dental/Vision coverage

Paid time off

Job summary

K2 Space is seeking a Senior Application Architect in Los Angeles to lead mission-critical platforms across engineering, manufacturing, finance and mission operations. You will translate business problems into scalable technical roadmaps and manage external vendors to ensure top-quality integration of commercial products.

The role emphasizes independent work on ambiguous projects, applying AI tools to accelerate analysis, and maintaining comprehensive architectural docs and user guides.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, STEM, or 10+ years in a related technical role.
• 8+ years architecting systems with distributed cloud architecture (AWS preferred; Azure/GCP acceptable).
• 3+ years in an internal customer-facing role driving technical project leadership.
• Experience with ERP, supply chain, financial systems, payments, analytics or CRM.

Responsibilities

• Define requirements and implementation risks with internal customers.
• Translate business problems into roadmaps for commercial products.
• Collaborate with third-party vendors to implement commercial products and ensure optimal configuration of COTS platforms; oversee vendor relationships and alignment with K2 Space priorities.
• Hold vendors accountable to schedules and budgets, knowing when to escalate or course-correct.
• Lead data validation and UAT, identifying root causes and data quality issues across systems.
• Communicate complex concepts clearly to technical and operational stakeholders across networking, security, deployment, user authentication, and system design.
• Manage multi-threaded, complex projects and report progress against goals and milestones.
• Execute system upgrades, patches, and change management with minimal disruption to operations.
• Serve as the voice of the customer to internal stakeholders across engineering, finance, sales, and product.
• Operate independently on ambiguous projects while balancing multiple workstreams and making sound tradeoffs.
• Apply AI and emerging technologies to accelerate analysis, documentation, troubleshooting and execution.
• Document and maintain technical artifacts including system architecture diagrams and user guides.

Skills

Distributed cloud architecture

Internal customer-facing leadership

API integration experience

SQL proficiency

C# experience

Data analytics

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related STEM field

Tools

AWS

Azure / GCP

Job description

K2 is building the largest and highest-power satellites ever flown, unlocking performance levels previously out of reach across every orbit.Backed by $450M from leading investors including Altimeter Capital, Redpoint Ventures, T. Rowe Price, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Alpine Space Ventures, and others – with an additional $500M in signed contracts across commercial and US government customers – we’re mass-producing the highest-power satellite platforms ever built for missions from LEO to deep space.

The rise of heavy-lift launch vehicles is shifting the industry from an era of mass constraint to one of mass abundance, and we believe this new era demands a fundamentally different class of spacecraft. Engineered to survive the harshest radiation environments and to fully capitalize on today’s and tomorrow’s massive rockets, K2 satellites deliver unmatched capability at constellation scale and across multiple orbits.

Our Enterprise Systems team builds the digital backbone that powers K2 Space's satellite design, manufacturing, and mission operations. We develop tools that connect engineering, production, finance, and mission control into a seamless ecosystem. Enabling our hardware to get from concept to orbit faster than ever before.

We're looking for a Senior Application Architect who is curious, collaborative, and driven to deliver mission-critical platforms and tools that turn ambitious projects into reality.

Responsibilities

• Conduct technical and operational discovery with internal customers to define requirements, dependencies, and implementation risks.
• Translate financial and business problems into implementation roadmaps for commercial products.
• Work with third-party vendors to implement commercial products and ensureoptimalconfiguration of COTS platforms; oversee vendor relationships andmaintainalignment with K2 Space priorities.
• Hold vendors accountable to schedules and budgets, knowing when to elevate and when tocourse-correct.
• Lead data validation and UAT efforts:identifyingroot causes, resolving data mismatches, transformation issues, and load failures. As well as confirming solutions perform across data quality, access, functionality, and performance dimensions.
• Communicate complex concepts clearly to both technical and operational stakeholders spanning networking, security, deployment, user authentication, and system design.
• Manage multi-threaded, complex projects and succinctly convey progress against goals and milestones.
• Execute system upgrades, patches, and change management processes with minimal disruption to operations.
• Serve as the voice of the customer to internal stakeholders across engineering, finance, sales, and product.
• Operate independently on ambiguous projects while balancing multiple concurrent workstreams, making sound tradeoff decisions grounded in core technical concepts.
• Apply AI and emerging technologies to accelerate analysis, documentation, troubleshooting and execution (with strong judgment and attention to accuracy).
• Document andmaintaintechnical artifacts including system architecture diagrams and user guides.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, a STEM discipline, or 10+ years of professional experience in a related technical role.
• 8+ years architecting systems with distributed cloud architecture (AWS preferred but open to Azure, GCP), in-depth knowledge of integration for modern API (RESTful or gRPC).
• 3+ years in an internal customer-facing role driving technical project leadership.
• Experience with one or more of the following: enterprise resource systems, supply chain systems, financial management and reporting, payment processing technologies, analytics platforms, or CRM systems.

Nice to Have

• Experience with financial processes and financial domain knowledge.
• Experience writing complex SQL queries and working with structured data.
• Experience with C# and API integrations.
• Proficiencywith relational databases such as MSSQL or PostgreSQL.
• Track recordof leading outcomes-focused conversations with internal business stakeholders.

Compensation and Benefits:

• Base salary range for this role is $150,000 - $200,000 + equity in the company
• Salary will be based on several factors including, but not limited to: knowledge and skills, education, and experience level
• Comprehensive benefits package including paid time off, medical/dental/vision/ coverage, life insurance, paid parental leave, and many other perks

If you need a reasonable accommodation as part of your application for employment or interviews with us, please let us know.

Export Compliance

As defined in the ITAR, “U.S. Persons” include U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents (i.e., Green Card holders), and certain protected individuals (e.g., refugees/asylees, American Samoans). Please consult with a knowledgeable advisor if you are unsure whether you are a “U.S. Person.”

The person hired for this role will have access to information and items controlled by U.S. export control regulations, including the export control regulations outlined in the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR). The person hired for this role must therefore either be a “U.S. person” as defined by 22 C.F.R. § 120.15 or otherwise eligible for a federally issued export control license.

Equal Opportunity

K2 Space is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with K2 Space is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.