Lead Flight Safety Engineer: Space Reentry & FAA Compliance

Varda; El Segundo (CA); On-site; USD 133,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible PTO

Medical, Dental, Vision insurance

Relocation support

Stock options

401(k) match

Gym reimbursement

Parental leave

Equity incentives

Job summary

Varda is seeking a Senior Systems Engineer in El Segundo, CA to lead flight safety and reentry compliance. You will own the regulatory strategy for FAA Part 450 and Range Safety licensing, and develop safety cases, FHA, and FMEA artifacts for mission assurance.

You will collaborate across engineering, safety, and regulatory teams to ensure flight hardware is verified, risk models meet safety thresholds, and live on-console operations are supported during missions and recovery.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required in aerospace, mechanical, electrical, manufacturing, systems engineering or related field.
• Five+ years of relevant aerospace engineering experience with mission assurance or flight safety.
• Experience with FAA Part 450, expected casualty modeling, trajectory dispersion, or debris analysis.
• Strong communication skills to influence cross-functional teams and regulators.
• Proficiency in risk management methodologies and tools (FMEA, FHA, FTA).
• Experience integrating interdisciplinary systems in aerospace.

Responsibilities

• Own the regulatory strategy, Means of Compliance, and safety cases for FAA launch and reentry authorizations.
• Own vehicle-level FHA and FMEA analyses.
• Maintain casualty and debris risk models to meet regulatory safety thresholds.
• Establish safety limits and mission rules for real-time operations.
• Deliver vehicle-level artifacts to regulators for licenses and authorizations.
• Act as Flight Safety responsible engineer during rehearsals and live recoveries.

Skills

Excellent communication

Regulatory awareness

Cross-functional collaboration

Risk management

Education

Bachelor's degree in aerospace, mechanical, electrical, manufacturing, systems engineering or related field

Tools

FMEA

FHA

Fault Tree Analysis

Job description

Varda is seeking a Senior Systems Engineer in El Segundo, CA to lead flight safety and reentry compliance. You will own the regulatory strategy for FAA Part 450 and Range Safety licensing, and develop safety cases, FHA, and FMEA artifacts for mission assurance.

You will collaborate across engineering, safety, and regulatory teams to ensure flight hardware is verified, risk models meet safety thresholds, and live on-console operations are supported during missions and recovery.