Star Wars - What IT Jobs were on the Death Star?

The Death Star was an impressive, moon-sized battle station constructed by the Galactic Empire and touted by its command staff as the ultimate power in the universe. But what sort of roles did the staff onboard the space station have?

The spherical mobile structure boasted extraordinary technology and had the capability to destroy entire planets with its superlaser, making it an omnipotent force to be reckoned with. Not only did it span over 120 kilometres in diameter (and is sometimes mistaken for a moon) but the first Death Star had a crew of over 250,000; which mostly included military personnel but also had over 40,000 support staff too. ^{_{Source: Star Wars Expanded Universe}}

So with the new Star Wars film coming out this week we decided to look at some of the IT job roles that may have existed on the Death Star.

Intelligence Analysts

The Death Star is a military weapon of the Galactic Empire after all and the need for intelligence analysts to process and distribute strategic and tactical intelligence would be integral to the defence of the Empire. Providing the Galactic Empire’s military personnel with information about the rebel alliance’s location and next potential strike is essential.

Cryptologic Linguist

There are over six million forms of communications in the Star Wars universe from Bocce, Wookie Speak to Ewoknese. A cryptologic linguist is responsible for identifying any foreign languages intercepted using signals equipment. With so many languages in the universe the role of cryptologic linguist is crucial to the Empire’s defence as it depends massively on the information that comes from foreign languages. It’s a position that’s likely to be supported by a protocol droid similar to C-3PO who specialises in different languages.

Signal Support Analysts

We all know the rebel alliance have their own electronic intelligence so the signals support analyst would be responsible for detecting and identifying rebel signal support systems and devices. Any non-voice communications and other electronic signals will need to be intercepted to provide the Empire with any strategic and tactical intelligence.

Weapons Engineer/Programmer

The Death Star boasts a primary weapon through its superlaser, a weapon powered by a hypermatter reactor and focused through kyber crystals that can destroy an entire planet. It's a complex operation and once fired it takes 24 hours to recharge before it can be fired again. Targeting a planet takes a lot more than pointing and clicking a button and is likely to involve various algorithms to calculate trajectories, therefore a programmer or engineer’s skillset may be required to avoid any unfortunate malfunctions or errors.

Death Star Network Administrators

A structure as large and important as the Death Star would have needed a complex network infrastructure to easily distribute plans, commands and orders to different departments. Network performance is vital to the operations ran by the Death Star so an administrator’s duty will be to monitor the network and maintain its stability and connection is secure. A firewall will also need to be established to block any remote connections that could potentially hack or compromise the imperial network.

Cyber Security Specialists

Speaking of hacking, Droids are a constant threat to protected data and if they gain any access to a nearby terminal then any important plans, locations and personal information could be compromised and be used as an advantage for the rebel alliance. The IG-88B droid was able to hack into Vader’s top-secret files which revealed the existence of a massive superweapon and also was able to hack into other imperial databases too. Cyber security specialists and intrusion analysts will certainly be on the Death Star’s books to prevent further hacks and limit the impact of cyber-attacks. It’s in the best interest of the Galactic Empire to protect important assets from foreign intelligence services - especially from the rebel alliance.

IT Technical Support

You can’t maintain a super space fortress without the support of technical specialists and IT support. What if the video link Darth Vader is using to connect to a commanding officer is not working? A quick call to the internal support team can assist the Sith Lord and troubleshoot his way to getting the video to connect. Hopefully the support worker is successful in his efforts and isn’t remotely force choked by Vader who might find their lack of technical knowledge disturbing.

Other Roles on the Death Star

There could have been several data analysts and project managers to oversee certain projects to support the development and operations of the Death Star. Besides IT, there would have of course been mechanics, space janitors and of course canteen staff.

There are so many more IT jobs that we could have thought of but didn’t have time to put them all down. What other IT jobs can you think of that may have existed? Let us know using our handle @TechnojobsUK.

Don't forget we have similar, less space related roles available on our website too!