Chief Engineer

ICEYE US; Irvine (CA); On-site; USD 170,000 - 195,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health coverage

Flexible PTO

Friendly work environment

Extra perks

Job summary

ICEYE US, headquartered in Southern California, is seeking a Chief Engineer to own product-level technical authority from mission concept through flight readiness within the Space Systems team. You will be the primary technical authority for the payload program, guiding system architecture, requirements, and verification.

You will drive architectural decisions, chair lifecycle reviews, resolve cross-disciplinary conflicts, and coordinate with RF, digital, mechanical, software, and program

Qualifications

• 10+ years of systems or aerospace engineering on space, radar, or avionics programs.
• At least 3 years in a chief engineer, lead systems engineer, or equivalent technical authority.
• 5+ years of hands-on experience with requirements decomposition, management, and verification closure on flight hardware programs.
• 5+ years of experience leading FMEAs, reliability analyses, and fault management design for flight hardware.
• Expertise in radar systems.

Responsibilities

• Own the product-level technical baseline, including system architecture, operating modes, interface definitions, and requirements; approve all changes to the baseline.
• Set technical direction and align subsystem teams to system-level objectives and constraints.
• Serve as the primary technical authority for all lifecycle reviews — SRR, PDR, CDR, TRR, MRR, and FRR — and determine technical readiness to proceed through each gate.
• Resolve cross-disciplinary technical conflicts and approve major trade-study outcomes using input from the Systems Engineer and subsystem Responsible Engineers.
• Own the product-level technical risk register; determine whether risks are accepted, mitigated, or escalated to program leadership.
• Ensure requirements verification is complete and traceable before delivery; hold accountability for V&V closure across the full payload stack.
• Establish and track system-level Technical Performance Measures (mass, power, thermal, link, data rate budgets); flag margin erosion and drive resolution.
• Lead or oversee FMEA and reliability analyses at system and subsystem level; identify single-point failures and drive redundancy or mitigation decisions.
• Own the fault management architecture including FDIR strategies, safe modes, and anomaly response aligned to mission ConOps.
• Represent the program as the primary technical counterpart to the customer; own all customer-facing technical communications and commitments.

Skills

Systems engineering

Aerospace engineering

Radar systems

Requirements decomposition

FMEA / reliability analyses

Lifecycle reviews

Cross-functional leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering

Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering

Bachelor's degree in Systems Engineering

Master's degree in a relevant engineering discipline

Tools

FPGA

Real-time OS

Command/Telemetry protocols

Job description

Chief Engineer

At ICEYE, we design, build and operate the largest fleet of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites in the world. Using advanced technology, our constellation collects topographical data about any location on Earth, day or night, through any weather conditions.

Headquartered in Southern California, our customers are society’s heroes – intelligence professionals, warfighters, first responders, and scientific researchers. As a trusted mission partner, the United States and its allies depend on us for critical information when it matters most.

Role Description

ICEYE US is developing next-generation spaceborne payloads and needs a Chief Engineer to own full product-level technical authority from mission concept through flight readiness and delivery. This role sits within the Space Systems team as the single point of technical accountability for the payload program — responsible for system architecture, requirements baseline, cross-disciplinary technical decisions, and verification completeness.

The chief engineer will work daily with subsystem Responsible Engineers, RF, digital, and mechanical design teams, software, and program leadership to ensure the payload is designed, built, and verified to meet mission objectives. This is a deeply technical leadership role — the chief engineer will drive architectural decisions, resolve cross-disciplinary conflicts, chair lifecycle reviews, and represent the program as the primary technical counterpart to the customer.

Responsibilities

• Own the product-level technical baseline, including system architecture, operating modes, interface definitions, and requirements; approve all changes to the baseline.

• Set technical direction and align subsystem teams to system-level objectives and constraints.

• Serve as the primary technical authority for all lifecycle reviews — SRR, PDR, CDR, TRR, MRR, and FRR — and determine technical readiness to proceed through each gate.

• Resolve cross-disciplinary technical conflicts and approve major trade-study outcomes using input from the Systems Engineer and subsystem Responsible Engineers.

• Own the product-level technical risk register; determine whether risks are accepted, mitigated, or escalated to program leadership.

• Ensure requirements verification is complete and traceable before delivery; hold accountability for V&V closure across the full payload stack.

• Establish and track system-level Technical Performance Measures (mass, power, thermal, link, data rate budgets); flag margin erosion and drive resolution.

• Lead or oversee FMEA and reliability analyses at system and subsystem level; identify single-point failures and drive redundancy or mitigation decisions.

• Own the fault management architecture including FDIR strategies, safe modes, and anomaly response aligned to mission ConOps.

• Represent the program as the primary technical counterpart to the customer; own all customer-facing technical communications and commitments.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of systems or aerospace engineering experience on space, radar, or avionics programs, with at least 3 years in a chief engineer, lead systems engineer, or equivalent technical authority role.

• Demonstrated experience leading formal lifecycle reviews (PDR, CDR, TRR, FRR) as the primary technical authority.

• 5+ years of hands‑on experience with requirements decomposition, management, and verification closure on flight hardware programs.

• 5+ years of experience leading FMEAs, reliability analyses, and fault management design for flight hardware.

• Expertise in radar systems.

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related field.

Preferred Qualifications

• Background in fault management / FDIR design for LEO or MEO missions.

• Understanding of embedded and flight software (FPGA, real‑time OS, command/telemetry protocols).

• Experience with avionics bus.

• Exposure to NASA systems engineering standards (NPR 7123.1) or equivalent (DO-178, ECSS).

• Experience supporting or leading qualification and acceptance test campaigns for space hardware.

• Understanding of manufacturing readiness and production transition for space hardware.

• Experience managing a cross‑functional engineering team in a program or product context.

• Master's degree in a relevant engineering discipline

Pay Range and Compensation Package

• The estimated base salary range for this role is $170K - $195K depending on experience

• Other benefits include health coverage, flexible PTO, a friendly work environment, plus extra fun perks!

Physical Requirements

This position primarily works in an office environment. It requires the ability to sit or stand for long periods of time and frequent walking. Daily use of a computer, phone, office equipment and other computing and digital devices is required. Some travel may be necessary – the ability to travel by car, plane, train, bus, vessel, or metro, operate a motor vehicle and maintain a valid Driver’s License and/or effectively navigate public transportation is required.

While performing the responsibilities of the job, the employee must be able to read and respond to inter-office communications as well as effectively participate in meetings. The employee is often required to sit and use their hands or fingers, to lift up to 50 lbs., pull, push, carry, handle, or feel. The employee is required to carry, handle items, reach with arms and hands, to stoop, kneel, or crouch; talk, or hear. Mental demands may require prolonged concentration, reading comprehension, understanding and interpretation of concepts, ideas, and philosophies. The physical demands of the position described herein are essential functions of the job and employees must be able to successfully perform these tasks for extended periods. Reasonable accommodations may be made for those individuals with real or perceived disabilities to perform the essential functions of the job described unless such accommodations would cause ICEYE US an undue burden.

EEO Statement

ICEYE US is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, age, or any other protected characteristic under federal, state, or local law.