Senior NASA Legacy Systems Architect & AI Modernization

Peraton; Las Cruces (NM); On-site; USD 86,000 - 138,000; Full time

Job summary

Peraton is seeking a Senior Software Architect SME to support NASA's White Sands Complex in Las Cruces, NM. You will lead architecture reviews and modernization of a 35-year legacy ground system written in Fortran, Ada, C, and C++.

You will mentor engineers through modernization and define CI/CD pipelines. The role requires DoD Secret clearance eligibility, US citizenship, 8+ years of experience in software architecture, and leadership in a government program.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field with 8+ years of experience; Master's with 6+ years.
• US citizen and able to obtain DoD Secret clearance; security clearance maintained.
• Experience reading, analyzing, and reverse-engineering legacy codebases in C, C++, Fortran, or Ada.
• Experience leading architecture reviews of systems, including undocumented ones.
• Hands-on Linux/Unix development experience.
• Experience with relational databases (PostgreSQL or Oracle).
• Proficiency with GitLab/GitHub; experience with CI/CD (GitLab CI/Jenkins).
• Experience with agile development, sprint planning, backlog management and DoD/NASA style gates.
• Leadership of software/architecture teams of 5+ engineers in government programs.

Responsibilities

• Co-lead Architecture Definition Review of a 35-year legacy ground system written in Fortran, Ada, C, and C++.
• Develop and update technical architecture documentation to close knowledge gaps.
• Mentor engineers through modernization and platform rehost, using AI tools to gain efficiency.
• Define and implement software development processes, toolchain standards, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Drive adoption of agile methodologies including sprint planning, peer estimation, and Definition of Done.
• Direct AI-assisted code comprehension workflows with NASA-approved tools.
• Support development of backend effort estimates grounded in architecture analysis.
• Coordinate with NASA task monitors and program leadership on progress and review gates.
• Maintain and evolve technical documentation as a living knowledge base.

Skills

Architecture leadership

Legacy code analysis

AI-assisted code

Linux development

CI/CD pipelines

Agile methodologies

JIRA experience

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS or related field

Master's degree (preferred)

Tools

GitLab/GitHub

PostgreSQL

Oracle

Confluence

Jenkins

GitLab CI

Job description

Peraton is seeking a Senior Software Architect SME to support NASA's White Sands Complex in Las Cruces, NM. You will lead architecture reviews and modernization of a 35-year legacy ground system written in Fortran, Ada, C, and C++.

You will mentor engineers through modernization and define CI/CD pipelines. The role requires DoD Secret clearance eligibility, US citizenship, 8+ years of experience in software architecture, and leadership in a government program.