Department: Information Technology

Location: Redondo Beach

Compensation: $140,000 - $180,000 / year

Description

Impulse is seeking a Principal Infrastructure Architect to define, design, and scale a secure, high-performance, multi-site infrastructure supporting aerospace and defense operations.

This is a hands-on architecture leadership role responsible for the end-to-end design of systems that power launch, test, and engineering environments while meeting CMMC, NIST 800-171, and ITAR requirements.

You will serve as the technical authority across compute, storage, and network domains, designing for availability, security, and compliance while enabling rapid growth. This position partners directly with the Information System Security Manager (ISSM) to translate regulatory controls into practical, high-assurance designs and implementations.

Ideal candidates have deep experience building mission-critical systems in aerospace, launch, or other high-reliability sectors where performance, safety, and compliance converge.

Responsibilities

Architect and document multi-site infrastructure across compute, storage, and network domains for corporate, engineering, test, and flight environments.
Lead the design and implementation of multi-zone, high-availability architectures that support real-time operations and telemetry workloads.
Develop network segmentation and isolation strategies for IT, OT, and flight systems that ensure both performance and compliance.
Drive infrastructure modernization initiatives spanning hyper-converged compute, data center expansion, and hybrid cloud (Azure, AWS, or GovCloud).
Design and manage global network topologies using BGP, IPsec, and redundant transport links (wave fiber, dark fiber) for zero-downtime continuity between sites.
Partner closely with the ISSM to ensure system architectures align with NIST 800-171, CMMC, and ITAR standards.
Translate control requirements into technical enforcement mechanisms such as segmentation, privileged access, encryption, and auditing.
Provide detailed system architecture input to the System Security Plan (SSP), boundary diagrams, and accreditation documentation.
Collaborate with the ISSM on POA&M resolution, vulnerability remediation, and infrastructure-level mitigations.
Architect ground-to-air and telemetry communication systems integrating flight and test assets into secure, compliant data environments.
Define and maintain disaster recovery and continuity of operations (COOP) strategies for mission systems.
Lead post-incident root cause analysis and drive architectural improvements for reliability and security.
Partner with Facilities on data center design, including power, cooling, rack layouts, and monitoring integration.
Mentor engineers and architects in scalable, secure, and compliant infrastructure design practices.
Represent IT Infrastructure in cross-functional architecture reviews, policy discussions, and compliance audits.

Minimum Qualifications

15+ years of progressive infrastructure experience, including 5+ years in an architecture or technical leadership role.
Demonstrated experience architecting multi-site, mission-critical systems supporting test, launch, or flight operations.
Deep technical expertise in:
- Virtualization and compute: VMware, Hyper-V, or Proxmox
- Networking: BGP, OSPF, VRRP, VLAN and micro segmentation
- Hybrid cloud integration: Azure, AWS, or GovCloud
- Storage and backup: NetApp, TrueNAS, Veeam, or equivalent
Experienced working knowledge of CMMC, NIST 800-171, or other compliance frameworks.
Demonstrated partnership with ISSM/ISSO teams and experience mapping technical controls to compliance objectives.
Experience designing or managing data center infrastructure (power distribution, UPS, HVAC, rack density).
Experience with firewall and segmentation design across mixed vendor environments (Palo Alto, Cisco, MikroTik).
Excellent communication skills and the ability to convey complex architectures to both engineers and executives.

Preferred Skills and Experience

Aerospace, launch, or test-site infrastructure experience with flight-critical or telemetry systems
Leadership of mixed IT/OT infrastructure teams in high assurance, regulated environments
Hands-on design of ground-to-air data and communications integration (RF, VoIP, telemetry)
Proven data center deployment or migration expertise, including BGP failover and HA design
Familiarity with FedRAMP-aligned environments (GCC High, GovCloud)
Experience building secure enclaves, jump hosts, and zero-trust segmentation architectures
Comfortable working in fast-paced, compliance-constrained environments where innovation and rigor must coexist

Certifications (Preferred Combinations)

Candidates with cross-domain certification combinations will be highly regarded, such as:

Networking: Cisco CCNP/CCIE, or equivalent enterprise/data center networking certification
Virtualization and infrastructure: VMware, Microsoft Certified Azure Solutions Architect Expert, or AWS Solutions Professional
Automation and cloud: Terraform Associate or equivalent

Additional Information:

Compensation bands are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual level and base pay is determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on job-related skills, education, experience, technical capabilities and internal equity. In addition to base salary, for full-time hires, you may also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of stock options, and access to medical, vision & dental coverage as well as access to a 401(k) retirement plan.

Impulse Space’s spacecraft manufacturing business is subject to U.S. export regulations including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR). This position requires applicants to be either U.S. Persons (i.e., U.S. citizen, U.S. national, lawful permanent U.S. resident (green card holder), an individual granted asylum in the U.S., or an individual admitted in U.S. refugee status) or persons eligible to obtain an export license from the U.S. Departments of State, Commerce, or other applicable U.S. government agencies. Learn more about the ITAR here.

Impulse Space is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Impulse 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.

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