Senior Software Development Engineer Jobs in Carlsbad, CA

About us: What you'll do:

We are seeking a highly experienced Senior Software Engineer with architect-level influence to join the Shared Business Applications team. This role is critical to scaling our global platform ecosystem, modernizing enterprise tooling, and driving AI-enabled transformation while maintaining compliance across commercial and government environments.

This is a high-impact role requiring deep technical expertise, strong leadership, and a strategic outlook to balance innovation, security, and operational excellence.

• Lead end-to-end architecture for critical engineering and enterprise applications (e.g., GitHub, Jira, Confluence, Artifactory, CI/CD toolchains, AI Assistants and Agents, time & attendance systems, Knowledge systems).
• Define and implement scalable, resilient architectures across hybrid environments (on-premises and cloud). Establish and evolve architecture standards, design patterns, and integration strategies across the enterprise.
• Drive application portfolio simplification and modernization, supporting strategic goals such as portfolio reduction and cost optimization.
• Architect systems that meet strict security, compliance, and governance requirements, including CMMC, ISO27001, ITAR, and data sovereignty standards.
• Champion DevOps excellence, including CI/CD, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), observability, and automation.
• Lead platform scalability and reliability initiatives, ensuring high availability (99%+ uptime), strong monitoring, and mature incident response practices.
• Serve as a technical leader and mentor, driving engineering best practices and influencing architecture decisions across teams.
• Support enterprise transformation initiatives, including vendor consolidation, cost optimization, and AI-driven efficiency gains.

This is a site‑based role, employees work 3+ days (60%+) per week from a Viasat office or work location within a standard five‑day workweek.

The day-to-day:

• Design and review solution architectures for new and existing platforms, ensuring alignment with enterprise standards.
• Collaborate with multi-functional teams (engineering, security, compliance, product, functional groups) to deliver scalable and compliant solutions.
• Lead architecture reviews, design discussions, and technical deep dives across teams.
• Build and improve CI/CD pipelines, automation workflows, and release processes.
• Monitor platform performance and reliability, driving improvements in uptime, incident reduction, and MTTR.
• Guide teams in implementing observability, telemetry, and alerting frameworks.
• Identify and eliminate technical debt through refactoring and modernization efforts.
• Contribute to AI integration initiatives, ensuring responsible usage, data governance, and seamless cross-platform operation.
• Mentor engineers and promote a culture of continuous improvement, ownership, and engineering excellence.
• Track and support delivery against OKRs, KPIs, budgets, and transformation goals.

What you'll need:

• 8+ years of experience in software engineering, platform engineering, or enterprise architecture roles.
• Proven experience designing and operating distributed systems at scale across hybrid or multi-cloud environments.
• Strong expertise in DevOps practices, including CI/CD, automation, IaC, and release engineering.
• Hands-on experience with enterprise platforms and developer tooling (e.g., GitHub, Jira, Artifactory, CI/CD systems).
• Deep understanding of system reliability, observability, and incident management frameworks.
• Experience working within regulated environments (e.g., government, defense, or highly compliant industries).
• Strong knowledge of security and compliance frameworks such as CMMC, ISO27001, and data governance practices.
• Proficiency in modern programming languages (e.g., Java, Python, Go, or similar).
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to influence interested parties and lead cross-team initiatives. May require direct reports.
• U.S. Citizenship required

What will help you on the job:

• Experience with AI/ML platforms and integrating them into workflows.
• Familiarity with data federation, sovereignty, and governance strategies in distributed systems.
• Hands-on expertise with cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, or GCP) and hybrid infrastructure patterns. Willingness to dive into new tech stacks.
• Experience driving large-scale transformation initiatives, such as:
• • Application portfolio rationalization
  • Vendor consolidation
  • Platform cost optimization
• Knowledge of Agile methodologies and incremental modernization strategies.
• Strong track record of mentorship and technical leadership in complex organizations.
• Experience improving developer productivity and platform usability at scale.

Salary range: $165,000.00 - $260,500.00 / annually. For specific work locations within San Jose, the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, the base pay range for this role is $205,000.00- $307,000.00/ annually : At Viasat, we consider many factors when it comes to compensation, including the scope of the position as well as your background and experience. Base pay may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Additional cash or stock incentives may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to a range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the position offered. Learn more about Viasat’s comprehensive benefit offerings that are focused on your holistic health and wellness at https://careers.viasat.com/benefits. EEO statement: