Product Architect

Bright Ascension is a fast growing, innovative company changing the way that software is developed in the space industry. With customers across the world, ranging from universities and space agencies, to commercial organisations and start-ups, our core technologies enable our customers to develop and operate space-based systems and services faster, more cost effectively and more reliably.

Innovation is at the heart of what we do and it is our team which drives that innovation; this is reflected in our commitment to employee ownership, which gives all of us a voice, and a stake, in our current and future success. With offices in Dundee, Edinburgh and Bristol we now have more than 50 members of staff and plans to significantly over the next 12 months. We are at a very exciting time in our ambitious growth plans and have fantastic opportunities for talented individuals to join our team.

We are looking for an experienced and motivated Product Architect. This will be a key role in translating core architectural principles into robust, scalable, and product-specific designs, as we approach our next exciting period of growth to help deliver our plans.

As a key member of our team, you would be responsible for the architectural design of our HELIX software products, ensuring alignment with the HELIX platform and reference architecture and underlying in-house technology.

We see this role as being full time, although this is negotiable. Ideally, we would like this role to be based in Edinburgh/Dundee, on a hybrid basis to allow for regular interaction with the wider business and colleagues in other departments.

What you will do

As a member of the Technology and Product Futures team your key responsibilities would be:

Define and own the end-to-end architecture for assigned HELIX products, ensuring consistency with the HELIX reference architecture.

Apply Bright Ascension’s model-based, component-based, and service hands-on engineering, guiding delivery teams to realise high-quality, coherent product architectures across both mission-ready applications-oriented design principles to product architectures.

Collaborate closely with the Chief Architect to interpret and evolve architectural guidance for product-specific needs.

Provide technical leadership and architectural direction to engineering teams throughout the product lifecycle.

Produce and maintain architectural artefacts, including system designs, interface definitions, and architectural decision records.

Ensure product architectures meet requirements for scalability, performance, reliability, and maintainability.

Support engineering teams in resolving complex technical challenges and making informed design decisions.

Promote the application of common components, services, and patterns across the HELIX product suite.

Validate that implementations conform to architectural designs through reviews, governance, and technical assurance activities.

Contribute feedback from product-level implementation to enhance the HELIX reference architecture and core technology.

Engage with stakeholders (e.g. product management, product engineering, customer experience teams) to ensure architectural alignment with business and mission goals.

Essential skills & experience

We see experience with the following as essential to the job:

Proven experience in software architecture, including designing complex, distributed systems.

Strong understanding of model-based, component-based, and/or service-oriented architectures.

Experience applying architectural frameworks, patterns, and best practices in real-world systems.

Familiarity with the full breadth of software engineering, including requirements, architecture, detailed design, development, testing at all levels, release, CI/CD, support and maintenance.

Hands-on software engineering background, with the ability to engage at code and design level when required.

Experience defining, documenting and communicating software system architectures using standard tools and methodologies (e.g. UML, SysML, C4 model, or equivalent).

Experience working with distributed system integration through e.g. APIs, microservices, etc.

Ability to balance technical trade-offs and make pragmatic architectural decisions.

Personal skills

We’re especially looking for someone who has:

Strong collaboration and influencing skills, with the ability to guide, mentor and learn from engineering teams.

Excellent communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex architectural concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Collaborative mindset, with experience working across cross-functional teams.

Analytical thinking and problem-solving capability, particularly in complex or ambiguous situations.

High level of ownership and accountability for architectural outcomes.

Ability to work effectively within architectural governance processes whilst contributing to continuous process improvements and building maturity in a new team.

Desirable skills & experience

We think that the following skills would definitely be valuable in this role:

Experience in aerospace, space systems, or mission-critical software domains.

Familiarity with model-driven engineering approaches and tools.

Experience working with domain-specific platforms or frameworks similar to HELIX.

Knowledge of systems engineering principles and their integration with software architecture.

Software development in Java, Python and/or C.

Experience contributing to or evolving a reference architecture or shared technology platform.

Exposure to real-time or embedded systems, where applicable.

Experience supporting both product development and development kits/tooling.

What we can offer you

A competitive salary in the range of £45,000-£50,000 depending on experience, with regular reviews.

A fantastic opportunity to join a growing, innovative, employee-centred business pushing boundaries in the space industry.

Flexible hours and hybrid working, enabling you to create your ideal work life balance.

36 days paid holiday per annum.

6% employer pension contribution.

Enhanced Company Sick Pay and Long-Term Sickness cover.

A Health Cash Plan to cover costs such as dental, physio and optical.

Life Assurance cover (x4 salary).

Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay.

Opportunities for international travel for exhibitions and trade shows.

Investment in you and your skill development and the opportunity to attend relevant events and conferences to aid career / skill development.

Company events and regular activities for social engagement and team building.

An open, supportive, inclusive environment where you can explore your ideas and make a big difference to the product and business.

Our Values

We worked together to identify and shape the values that underpin everything we do, our actions, our vision and all things Bright Ascension.

Passion & Innovation

Enjoy what you do and have fun. Be curious and be fearless. Unconventional ideas and passion are the paths to true innovation.

Teamwork & Collaboration

Sharing knowledge helps the team thrive. Start a dialogue and win through teamwork. Success comes through collaboration and support.

Respect & Integrity

Recognise differences and accept opinions. Integrity, respect and high standards create unbreakable trust and builds reputation.