Lead Payload Systems Engineer – Space RF & Antennas

MDA Space; Stevenage; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Job summary

MDA Space in the United Kingdom is seeking a Payload Systems Engineer to lead the design, integration and test of RF payload and antenna systems for GEO and other environments. You will work closely with internal and external systems teams to develop robust trade analyses, defining requirements and architecture.

The role requires 10+ years in space system engineering, leadership experience, and a strong grasp of ECSS standards.

Qualifications

• Degree in Engineering, Maths or Physics.
• 10+ years of experience in communications system engineering and/or engineering management.
• Experience with space industry standards (ECSS).
• Experience managing an engineering team.
• Experience in communications satellite design (RF payload systems, antenna design and digital payload architecture).
• Ability to develop and analyse E2E system requirements, perform trade studies (e.g., link budgets and capacity analysis) breaking down the complete system into the constituent parts and solutions.
• Ability to lead technical proposals to RFI/RFPs, including developing presentations to describe the technical approach in a clear manner to customers.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, including a demonstrated ability to interact effectively with customers, management, and peers.

Responsibilities

• Lead an engineering project team by defining scope, schedule, cost, resources, and risks, ensuring alignment with delivery teams and leadership.
• Forecast technical performance against baselines to enable timely decision-making and mitigation.
• Lead cross-functional technical execution to deliver scope on schedule and within budget and quality standards.
• Manage technical task budgets, cost forecasts and schedule performance within agreed baselines.
• Define, validate and manage technical requirements to maintain alignment with schedule, quality and cost targets.
• Guide the project systems engineering team in generating requirements, specifications and interface definitions.
• Perform system design trade-offs and allocate requirements to sub-systems/components.
• Develop system and satellite payload concepts of operations and architecture focusing on RF and physical layers.
• Develop requirements for antenna and on-board processing functions.
• Enable technology maturation and risk reduction plans for ground infrastructure and satellite subsystems.
• Conduct specification trade-off negotiations with customers, partners, engineers and working groups.

Skills

Leadership

Communication skills

Education

Degree in Engineering, Maths or Physics

Job description

MDA Space in the United Kingdom is seeking a Payload Systems Engineer to lead the design, integration and test of RF payload and antenna systems for GEO and other environments. You will work closely with internal and external systems teams to develop robust trade analyses, defining requirements and architecture.

The role requires 10+ years in space system engineering, leadership experience, and a strong grasp of ECSS standards.