Senior Principal Software Architect (Onsite)

Prattwhitney; Richardson (TX); On-site; USD 132,000 - 252,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

401(k) match

Relocation assistance

Tuition reimbursement

Paid time off

Job summary

Pratt & Whitney seeks a Senior Principal Software Architect to lead the design of real-time embedded software for mission-critical VLF transmitters. You will work across software, systems, and hardware teams to ensure robust, secure, and high-performance solutions.

You will mentor engineers on architectural best practices, define MBSE artifacts, and drive software development in a regulated defense environment. This role offers on-site work with a clear path to technical leadership.

Qualifications

• Experience with real-time operating systems (RTOS) development, debugging, and optimization.
• Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), system decomposition, and interface control across disciplines.
• Software lifecycle processes, configuration control, and change management in high-integrity environments.
• Active and transferable Secret U.S. government clearance is required before start date.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with software, systems, and hardware engineers to design and develop control and monitoring for mission-critical VLF transmitters.
• Define, evolve, and optimize software and simulation for embedded platforms.
• Serve as technical lead for cross-functional development, balancing platform constraints with hardware needs.
• Mentor teams on architectural best practices, modularity, and real-time performance tradeoffs.
• Identify optimization opportunities and drive architecture decisions with software SMEs.
• Define software requirements and UML design diagrams in MBSE tools.
• Develop and integrate multi-threaded embedded software using C/C++ on RTOS.
• Support integration and verification in our automated test framework (gtest, python, JSON).
• Enhance simulation components to reflect new hardware capabilities.
• Guide development practices to meet STIGs and DMCA-related standards.
• Support documentation updates to satisfy CDPRL requirements.
• Provide insights on future scope and process improvements within Agile cadence.

Skills

RTOS

MBSE

Software architecture

C++

Multithreading

Secure coding

Python

Education

STEM degree + 10+ years

Advanced degree +7y

Tools

Jira

Git

Visual Studio Code

cmake

Qt

Job description

Senior Principal Software Architect

Date Posted: 2026-08-06 Country: United States of America Location: US-TX-RICHARDSON-461 ~ 3200 E Renner Rd ~ RENNER BLDG 461 Position Role Type: Onsite U.S. Citizen, U.S. Person, or Immigration Status Requirements: Active and transferable U.S. government issued security clearance is required prior to start date. U.S. citizenship is required, as only U.S. citizens are eligible for a security clearance Security Clearance Type: Secret - Current Security Clearance Status: Active and existing security clearance required on day 1

Sign On Bonus Eligible

What You Will Do:

• Work collaboratively both within the software team, as well as with systems and hardware engineers to design and develop our solution to control and monitor mission critical VLF transmitters
• Define, evolve, and optimize software and simulation design across mission-critical embedded platforms
• Serve as technical lead for cross-functional development, driving software solutions to systems and hardware engineers while ensuring development team understands platform and hardware constraints
• Mentor and guide engineering teams in architectural best practices, modularity, code structure, and performance tradeoffs in real-time systems
• Identify areas for optimization and collaborate on architecture-level decisions along with other software Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to meet system constraints
• Define software requirements and Unified Modeling Language (UML) design diagrams within a Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) tool
• Develop and integrate multi-threaded embedded software using C and C++ within a Real Time Operating System (RTOS)
• Support integration and verification within our automated test framework (gtest, python, JSON)
• Enhance simulation elements to reflect new hardware capabilities
• Drive technical design and software development practices to meet stringent Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs)
• Support document updates to meet customer Contract Data Requirements List (CDRL)
• Provide insight on future scope, task assignments, and process improvements within our Agile cadence

What You Will Learn:

• Full software development lifecycle within defense industry
• Agile development within a classified environment
• Integration and validation on a variety of hardware controller cards
• Best practices in secure software coding on embedded systems
• Opportunity to grow into Technical Lead or Product Owner

Qualifications

You Must Have:

• Extensive experience with real-time operating systems (RTOS), including development, debugging, and performance optimization of embedded software applications
• Experience with Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), system decomposition, and interface control across disciplines
• Experience with software lifecycle processes, configuration control, and change management in high-integrity development environments
• Active and transferable Secret U.S. government issued security clearance is required prior to start date
• Typically requires a degree in Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM) and minimum 10 years prior relevant experience or an Advanced Degree in a related field and minimum 7 years of experience
• Qualifications

We Prefer:

• Experience with multithreading, memory management, and performance optimization in complex environments
• Experience in secure coding practices
• Experience with hardware-software integration and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing
• Experience with development tool sets, including Jira, Git, Visual Studio Code, cmake
• Experience with Qt framework and development tools to generate C++ and QML code
• Ability to read electrical schematics and understand system‑level hardware interfaces
• Expertise in Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) that support C++-based application frameworks

What We Offer:

Some of our competitive benefits package includes:

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Three weeks of vacation for newly hired employees
• Generous 401(k) plan that includes employer matching funds and separate employer retirement contribution, including a Lifetime Income Strategy option
• Tuition reimbursement program
• Student Loan Repayment Program
• Life insurance and disability coverage
• Optional coverages you can buy pet insurance, home and auto insurance, additional life and accident insurance,critical illnessinsurance, group legal, ID theft protection
• Birth, adoption, parental leave benefits
• Ovia Health, fertility, and family planning
• Adoption Assistance
• Autism Benefit
• Employee Assistance Plan, including up to 10 free counseling sessions
• Healthy You Incentives, wellness rewards program
• Doctor on Demand, virtual doctor visits
• Bright Horizons, child and elder care services
• Teladoc Medical Experts, second opinion program
• Eligible for relocation assistance

Salary Range

The salary range for this role is 132,400 USD - 251,600 USD. The salary range provided is a good faith estimate representative of all experience levels.

Hired applicants may be eligible for benefits, including but not limited to, medical, dental, vision, life insurance, short-term disability, long-term disability, 401(k) match, flexible spending accounts, flexible work schedules, employee assistance program, Employee Scholar Program, parental leave, paid time off, and holidays. Specific benefits are dependent upon the specific business unit as well as whether or not the position is covered by a collective-bargaining agreement.

Hired applicants may be eligible for annual short-term and/or long-term incentive compensation programs depending on the level of the position and whether or not it is covered by a collective-bargaining agreement. Payments under these annual programs are not guaranteed and are dependent upon a variety of factors including, but not limited to, individual performance, business unit performance, and/or the company’s performance.

Any successful candidate residing in a U.S. territory will receive the appropriate pay structure and benefits.

RTX anticipates the application window closing approximately 40 days from the date the notice was posted. However, factors such as candidate flow and business necessity may require RTX to shorten or extend the application window.

RTX is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability or veteran status, or any other applicable state or federal protected class.

RTX provides affirmative action in employment for qualified Individuals with a Disability and Protected Veterans in compliance with Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act.

RTX is an aerospace and defense company that provides advanced systems and services for commercial, military and government customers worldwide. It comprises three industry-leading businesses – Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney, and Raytheon. Its 195,000 employees enable the company to operate at the edge of known science as they imagine and deliver solutions that push the boundaries in quantum physics, electric propulsion, directed energy, hypersonics, avionics and cybersecurity. The company, formed in 2020 through the combination of Raytheon Company and the United Technologies Corporation aerospace businesses, is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.