Lead Spacecraft Mission Integration Engineer

Telemetry Today LLC; Los Angeles, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity in Apex

Comprehensive healthcare

PTO 15 days + 10 holidays

401(k) match

8 weeks paid parental leave

Daily catered lunch and snacks

Playa Vista office

Real impact opportunity

Job summary

Apex is seeking a Staff Mission Integration Engineer specializing in Space Vehicle Design to join our expanding team. The Mission Integration team turns our foundational spacecraft platform into the backbone of customer missions.

It is an end-to-end role as the primary liaison between our customers and technical teams, developing mission concepts, performing technical analysis, resolving interfaces, and executing space vehicle integration and test.

Qualifications

• U.S. Person status due to export‑controlled data.
• Bachelor's degree or higher in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related field.
• 12+ years of experience on complex hardware systems or technical capture management.
• Experience in satellite manufacturing or related industries (aerospace, defense, or high-tech).
• Strong understanding of space systems, launch vehicle mechanics, orbital dynamics, and mission operations.
• Proficiency in Python, MATLAB, STK, FreeFlyer, GMAT, or other mission analysis tools.
• Experience coordinating cross-functional teams and managing timelines in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong communication and organizational skills, with attention to detail.

Responsibilities

• Define end-to-end mission architecture for large complex mission sets across spacecraft, launch vehicles, ground systems, and operations.
• Lead technical inputs to proposals by defining approaches, studies, and cost estimates.
• Perform architecture trades through mission analysis including orbital mechanics and deployment strategies.
• Serve as primary technical liaison between internal teams and customers.
• Lead technical discussions in meetings, reviews, and status updates.
• Coordinate cross-functional team efforts to ensure system integration and performance.
• Develop and maintain customer system-level documentation and interface control documents.
• Generate mission-specific technical budgets (power, mass, data, pointing).
• Analyze CLA/thermal results and perform EMC assessments.
• Perform FMEA and support reliability engineering.
• Develop bus-to-payload communication architecture and support space vehicle testing.
• Plan and execute final integrated space vehicle systems testing.
• Travel to launch sites for integration, checkouts, and rehearsals.
• Work with mission ops teams to track spacecraft in operation.
• Lead requirements analysis, verification, and validation for customer needs and standards.
• Identify and assess technical risks and work with partners to shape future missions.

Skills

Mission integration

Systems engineering

Cross-functional leadership

Technical communication

Project management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering

Related field

Tools

Python

MATLAB

STK

FreeFlyer

GMAT

Job description

Apex is seeking a Staff Mission Integration Engineer specializing in Space Vehicle Design to join our expanding team. The Mission Integration team turns our foundational spacecraft platform into the backbone of customer missions.

It is an end-to-end role as the primary liaison between our customers and technical teams, developing mission concepts, performing technical analysis, resolving interfaces, and executing space vehicle integration and test.