Software Infrastructure Release Engineer

One team. Global challenges. Infinite opportunities. At Viasat, we're on a mission to deliver connections with the capacity to change the world. For more than 35 years, Viasat has helped shape how consumers, businesses, governments and militaries around the globe communicate. We're looking for people who think big, act fearlessly, and create an inclusive environment that drives positive impact to join our team.

• Oversee the planning, scheduling, and control of software releases, ensuring smooth transitions from development to production.
• Planning and Scheduling: The Software Deployment and Infrastructure Engineer is responsible for planning the release of project deliverables and managing the release lifecycle. This includes coordinating schedules and resources required for successful releases.
• Coordination: They act as a liaison between various teams, including development, testing, and operations, to ensure that all aspects of the release process are aligned and communicated effectively.
• Risk Management: Identifying potential risks that could delay releases and implementing strategies to mitigate these risks is a crucial part of the role.
• Deployment Oversight: The Release Manager leads the deployment activities, ensuring that software is released according to the planned schedule and meets quality standards.
• Continuous Improvement: They are also responsible for supervising the progress of releases, finding issues, and continuously improving the release process to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.

• Communicating key project commitments, plans, changes and requirements to airline and relevant teams
• Managing risks that may affect release scope
• Ensuring releases stay within budgets and requirements
• Providing weekly updates on release activities
• Resolving issues regarding release quality and schedule
• Identifying any project dependencies that could alter the course of release

• Release Management Tools: Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, Azure DevOps, and deployment automation platforms
• Project Management: Agile methodologies, Scrum, Kanban, and project coordination frameworks
• Technical Understanding: Software development lifecycle, testing methodologies, and infrastructure concepts
• Communication Skills: Stakeholder management, cross-team coordination, and executive reporting
• Risk Management: Risk assessment, contingency planning, and issue escalation procedures
• Process Improvement: Lean principles, continuous improvement, and metrics analysis
• Compliance Knowledge: Regulatory requirements, audit procedures, and change management
• Incident Management: Crisis communication, rollback procedures, and post-incident analysis
• US Citizenship required
• Ability to travel up to 10%

Release Coordination & Planning:

• Coordinating release schedules across engineering, product, test groups, operations, and field teams
• Managing release documentation including versioning, release notes, and certification artifacts
• Tracking release readiness across multiple hardware/software configurations
• Validating pre-deployment documentation and confirming all requirements are met before field installation

Version & Configuration Management:

• Implementing rigorous version control and model management practices
• Maintaining configuration baselines for different customers and working with the team to understand configuration drift
• Understanding A/B partition schemes for the modem and rollback procedures for the server

Compliance & Documentation:

• Coordinating with the airline program team, PTE and third party manufacturing for retrofit and new factory software
• Maintaining traceability of features for software releases
• Supporting regulatory audits with deployment records

Field Deployment Coordination:

• Working with operations teams to understand and delivery methods for OTA (SSLK, Config, Helm, MUD, etc.)
• Coordinating secure transmission of software packages for non-OTA installations
• Tracking deployment status across fleet installations
• Managing phased rollouts and monitoring for issues
• Coordinating emergency patches and critical updates

Risk Management & Rollback:

• Work with CE for aligning fixes for post-release defects
• Coordinating rollback procedures when issues are detected
• Utilizing staged rollout functionality to limit blast radius of issues when needed

Required Skills & Background:

Technical Knowledge:

• Familiarity with OTA update mechanisms and secure firmware distribution
• Knowledge of version control systems (Git) and branching strategies
• Basic understanding of cryptographic signing and secure boot
• Awareness of A/B partition schemes and failsafe update mechanisms

Industry-Specific:

• Understanding of aerospace/maritime operating environments
• Understanding of field deployment constraints (bandwidth, connectivity, installation windows)

Coordination Skills:

• Excellent communication skills for interfacing with technical and non-technical teams
• Ability to manage conflicting priorities and resolve issues with limited information
• Experience coordinating across engineering, operations, and customer-facing teams
• Strong organizational skills for tracking complex multi-system deployments

Tools & Processes:

• Experience with release management tools (Jira,Artifactory, Git)
• Understanding of SDLC phases and gate reviews
• Familiarity with documentation systems and change management processes
• Ability to create and maintain releases with desired experience in Monday.com

Viasat is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, seeking to create a welcoming and diverse environment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, marital status, genetics, age, or veteran status or any other applicable legally protected status or characteristic. If you would like to request an accommodation on the basis of disability for completing this on-line application, please click here.