Mission Architect

Northwood is on a mission to transform connectivity between Earth and space. Satellites are only as powerful as the ground systems that connect to them - without that critical infrastructure, they can’t be steered or send their data back to Earth. Northwood’s global ground network ensures that missions ranging from national security, to global connectivity, to disaster response can unlock their full potential and operate every day without fail. We take a vertically integrated approach to building an end-to-end ground system, delivering technology that is scalable and reliable for both government and commercial customers.

Backed by over $100M from investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Washington Harbour Partners, Alpine Space Ventures, Founders Fund, and others, Northwood has proven its ability to move fast – we’ve stood up a fully operational site in Australia in just 3 months, where similar efforts typically take years.

Northwood is rapidly scaling its global footprint, with 30+ sites planned across 2026 and 2027. We’re building and deploying infrastructure at a pace the industry hasn’t seen before. If you thrive on building quickly, solving hard problems, and seeing your work deployed globally on critical missions, we want you at Northwood.

MISSION ARCHITECT

Mission Architects help customers adopt and succeed on Northwood's ground station network. You'll work with satellite operators to understand their missions, shape requirements, and guide them from first conversation through deployment and beyond. You'll partner closely with Business Development, Engineering, and Program Management throughout.

This role suits a technically credible operator who can build trust with satellite customers, spot opportunities, and turn mission needs into clear priorities for our internal teams.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Make customer missions succeed on Northwood's network.
• Serve as the primary technical contact for customers during capture, evaluation, onboarding, and post-deployment.
• Support Business Development on qualification, proposals, and expansion.
• Lead technical discovery, exchanges, demos, and readiness reviews alongside Program Management.
• Learn each customer's mission, workflows, constraints, decision criteria, and success metrics in depth.
• Translate customer needs into clear priorities for Engineering, Product, and BD.
• Get hands-on with implementation and integration — working directly alongside customers and Engineering to bring up, troubleshoot, and validate their operations on the network.
• Surface friction points, adoption blockers, and recurring needs that should shape the product and network.
• Coordinate onboarding and deployment readiness — clarifying requirements, flagging risks, and aligning internal teams around customer objectives.
• Build reusable discovery frameworks and customer-facing materials that help Northwood scale capture and customer success.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS

• 5+ years in customer-facing technical roles: solutions or systems engineering, mission operations, technical business development, capture engineering, solutions architecture, or TAM.
• Bachelor's in EE, CE, CS, Aerospace, or related field — or equivalent experience with mission systems, ground systems, networking, cloud, or satellite operations.
• Track record taking complex customer engagements from discovery through deployment or expansion.
• Proven ability to build trust with technical customers and turn ambiguous mission needs into concrete priorities.
• Comfortable working in ambiguous environments spanning hardware, software, networking, and business objectives.
• Strong communicator — able to lead technical conversations, write clear customer materials, and brief internal stakeholders.
• Effective across BD, Engineering, Product, Program Management, and customer teams.
• Willing to travel up to 30%.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Background in satellite communications, RF, space operations, ground stations, or telecom infrastructure.
• Experience with proposals, technical evaluations, demos, pilots, or proof-of-concept work.
• Experience managing technical relationships in mission-critical environments.
• Familiarity with APIs, networking protocols, telemetry, scheduling systems, cloud infrastructure, or mission assurance.
• Ability to obtain or hold TS/SCI clearance.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

Your actual level and base salary will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on job-related knowledge, skills, education, and experience.

Base salary is just one part of your total rewards package at Northwood. You may also be eligible for equity in the form of stock options or other long-term incentives, as well as potential performance bonuses. We offer comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage, a 401(k) retirement plan, short- and long-term disability insurance, life insurance, paid parental leave, generous paid time off, and various other perks and discounts.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Northwood is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Northwood 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.