I returned to Saber Astronautics as the Project Lead and Lead Designer for Saber's newly awarded Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract, Space Application Marketplace (SAM), leading a team of up to 5 engineers.

I started by researching application stores and the needs of our primary customer to define the minimum viable product (MVP) including the UI, workflows, and user account management. Since SAM was being developed in Saber’s Space Cockpit Battle Management System (SMBS) rather than being a standalone project, I consulted the lead engineer on the necessary database and codebase changes to accommodate the marketplace and discussed initial risks and development dependencies. With that, I created a project plan and timeline, consulting with the stakeholders as well for their approval.

I then researched cutting-edge space domain awareness technology and fostered relationships with new companies, over 50 total, to find potential applications for integration. As we developed our own in-house applications to start, I defined the requirements for third-party integrations so that both companies could ensure code security and we could maintain our CI/CD deployments for uninterrupted service for USSF operators. Once I found applications that passed the requirements, I identified the highest-impact and lowest-effort applications to develop, again consulting with the engineers and stakeholders. For each application, I designed user workflows and interfaces, selected the best engineer to work the integration, and added it to the development queue. I led the integrations by connecting the teams, creating communication channels, leading regular progress updates, updating the designs as needed, and obtaining access information for APIs and other documentation, and overall ensuring that the integration maintained the integrity of the original technology. Throughout the development, I also continued to maintain regular communication with primary customers and stakeholders to provide updates on the project’s progress and continue prioritize upcoming features to make sure every integration had the highest impact for our national security. 

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Once applications began to release, I created and maintained documentation, marketing materials, press releases, and training videos for each integration. I also led community engagement by responding to support emails and attending conferences. As the user base grew, I planned and ran a hybrid 2-day user workshop with over 20 participants from around the world to train users and gather feedback on the project.

As the queue grew, I transitioned into a full-stack developer. I programmed integrations and new features across the tech stack, fixed bugs, wrote unit tests to maintain the CI/CD pipelines, maintained the application and user database, and constantly tested the integrations. 

Through my efforts, I led my team to finish the deliverables for the project’s 18-month SBIR contract 6 months early.