Chief System Engineer

InnoForge; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

InnoForge, in partnership with a US space technology company, is seeking a Chief Engineer to own the system architecture from concept through flight. You will align mission design, requirements, and subsystem integration across GNC, avionics, software, power, communications, structures, thermal and payloads.

You should have hands-on experience taking spacecraft or complex space systems from early architecture through build, qualification and flight, with autonomy in a small team and the ability

Qualifications

• Experience taking multiple spacecraft or complex space systems through the full development lifecycle.
• Deep understanding of system architecture, requirements and integration.
• Ability to challenge specialists across multiple engineering disciplines.
• Experience through major design and qualification reviews.
• Practical understanding of how hardware is built, tested and flown.
• Ability to operate with autonomy in an early-stage environment.

Responsibilities

• Technical architecture and major system-level design decisions.
• Mission planning and system requirements.
• Requirements flow-down, allocation, verification and validation.
• Integration across GNC, avionics, software, power, communications, structures, thermal and payloads.
• System trades across performance, mass, power, cost and technical risk.
• Technical readiness through PDR, CDR, TRR and qualification.
• Mission-level performance including pointing, power, data, lifetime and survivability.
• Environmental qualification including vibration, shock, TVAC, EMI and radiation.
• Technical oversight of suppliers and external spacecraft / subsystem partners.

Job description

InnoForge is partnering with an ambitious US space technology company developing a fundamentally different approach to how spacecraft operate and deploy capability on orbit.

Rather than making incremental improvements to traditional spacecraft architectures, the team is building a new system from first principles, combining spacecraft, payloads and novel deployment technology to enable more flexible and distributed missions.

They're now looking for a Chief Engineer to take technical ownership of the system as they move through development, qualification and towards flight.

You'll work closely with the CEO and engineering team, owning the overall architecture and making sure the different pieces of the system actually work together. That means everything from mission design and requirements through subsystem integration, qualification and ultimately operations.

What you'll own

• Technical architecture and major system-level design decisions
• Mission planning and system requirements
• Requirements flow-down, allocation, verification and validation
• Integration across GNC, avionics, software, power, communications, structures, thermal and payloads
• System trades across performance, mass, power, cost and technical risk
• Technical readiness through PDR, CDR, TRR and qualification
• Mission-level performance including pointing, power, data, lifetime and survivability
• Environmental qualification including vibration, shock, TVAC, EMI and radiation
• Technical oversight of suppliers and external spacecraft / subsystem partners

We're interested in engineers who have actually taken spacecraft or similarly complex space systems from early architecture through build, qualification and flight.

You’ll likely bring:

• Experience taking multiple spacecraft or complex space systems through the full development lifecycle
• Genuine depth across system architecture, requirements and integration
• Enough technical breadth to challenge specialists across multiple engineering disciplines
• Experience working through major design and qualification reviews
• A practical understanding of how hardware gets built, tested and flown
• The ability to operate with a high level of autonomy in an early-stage environment

The company needs someone who can get into the detail, make difficult technical calls and help turn an ambitious architecture into flight hardware.

Eligibility:

Candidates must meet applicable US export-control requirements and be able to obtain a security clearance.

If you've spent your career building spacecraft and want the opportunity to have genuine technical ownership of something being developed from first principles, we'd be interested in speaking.