Location: Arlington, United States of America

ATC Systems Architect

Syracuse, NY or Arlington, VA, USA (Hybrid)

Position Summary

Thales is seeking a System Architect in Arlington, VA or Syracuse, NY. The System Architecture role is responsible for defining, governing, and maintaining end-to-end solution architectures that align internal and external stakeholder needs with business strategy, technical feasibility, and lifecycle objectives. The role leads architectural definition from bid and concept phases through design, development, integration, validation, customer acceptance, and in-service support, ensuring solutions meet performance, cost, risk, schedule, and regulatory requirements. Acting as a key technical authority, the System Architect drives informed trade-offs, ensures compliance with engineering governance and product policies, and safeguards the long-term viability, scalability, and sustainability of solutions across their full lifecycle.

Key Areas of Responsibility

• Serve as the primary technical interface with customers (or Product Line Management for product-based solutions) on solution architecture, design, performance, and lifecycle considerations.
• Lead and oversee the architecting of software solutions in alignment with the approved technology roadmap, agile development strategy, and sprint planning cycles.
• Proactively anticipate, analyze, and translate customer and stakeholder needs into a structured and traceable initial requirements baseline.
• Develop and evolve the solution architecture by fully understanding operational context, stakeholder expectations, and system constraints.
• Define and drive the development strategy for advanced algorithms, software applications, and enabling technologies required to deliver the solution.
• Formalize solution requirements and ensure alignment with business objectives, technical feasibility, and lifecycle constraints.
• Prepare, review, and sign Design Validation (DVa) documentation at each applicable bid and project milestone, ensuring formal approval by the Design Authority (DA).
• Review and approve the completion of integration, verification, validation, and qualification (IVVQ) activities, ensuring compliance with architectural intent and requirements traceability.
• Develop, stabilize, and maintain solution architectures for bids and projects across the full lifecycle, in close cooperation with the SEM.
• Define and propose candidate architectures at the solution or solution-element level that meet stakeholder expectations while complying with standardization, reuse policies, technology roadmaps, and business strategy.
• Establish solution architectures through structured trade-offs among stakeholder expectations, technical and technological options, cost, risk, and schedule; document architectural rationale through formal artifacts (e.g., D&JF, PBS, SSDD); and approve resulting lower-level specifications.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Data Science, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related discipline, with a minimum of 9 years of relevant professional experience, or 10+ years of experience leading multidisciplinary engineering teams, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Demonstrated experience applying Design Assurance standards, particularly as they relate to system safety, compliance, and certification
• Proven knowledge and hands-on experience in complex systems engineering, including system integration across hardware, software, and operational domains.
• Strong understanding of systems engineering processes and lifecycle methodologies, with experience supporting large-scale, complex programs involving multiple stakeholders and demanding schedules.
• Solid knowledge of and practical experience with Agile development methodologies, including iterative delivery, cross-functional collaboration, and incremental value realization.

Special Position Requirements

• Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States for any employer at the time of hire. This position is not eligible for visa sponsorship or for assuming sponsorship of an employment visa now or in the future.
• Must be a US Person as defined in applicable law

This position will require successfully completing a post-offer background check. Qualified candidates with [a] criminal history will be considered and are not automatically disqualified, consistent with federal law, state law, and local ordinances.

The reference Total Target Compensation (TTC) market range for this position, inclusive of annual base salary and the variable compensation target, is between

Total Target Cash (TTC) 194,315.80 - 360,872.20 USD Annual

This reflects how companies in a similar industry and geographic region generally pay for similar jobs. This range helps the Company make pay decisions as one data point among many. Where a position falls within this range is also dependent on other factors including - but not limited to - the employee's career path history, competencies, skills and performance, as well as the company's annual salary budget, the customer's program requirements, and the company's internal equity. Thales may offer additional benefits and other compensation, depending on circumstances not related to an applicant's status protected by local, state, or federal law.

(For Internal candidate, if you need more information, please reach out to your HR Shared Service, 1st Point)

Thales provides an extensive benefits program for all full-time employees working 30 or more hours per week and their eligible dependents, including the following:
• Elective Health, Dental, Vision, FSA/HSA, Voluntary Life and AD&D, Whole Group Life w/LTC, Critical Illness, Hospital Indemnity, Accident Insurance, Legal Plan, Identity Theft, and Pet Insurance
• Retirement Savings Plan after 30 days of employment with a company contribution and a match, and with no vesting period
• Company paid holidays and Paid Time Off
• Company provided Life Insurance, AD&D, Disability, Employee Assistance Plan, and Well-being Program