Principal Space Systems Engineer, Electrical & Controls

Rocket Lab Corporation; Tucson (AZ); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Rocket Lab in Tucson, AZ seeks a Principal Systems Engineer to lead electrical architecture and controls design across space payloads and platforms. You will drive system requirements, interface definitions, and verification activities while collaborating with hardware, software, and firmware teams on mission-critical aerospace programs.

This role supports programs for DoD/IC customers, requires strong documentation practices, and involves working with multidisciplinary teams to ensure

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in electrical, systems, or aerospace engineering or other technical discipline.
• 12+ years of engineering experience with 3+ years in development programs and 2+ years in technical leadership (CAM/IPTL).
• Experience developing system requirements, interface definitions, and verification approaches for complex systems.
• Strong background in electrical interfaces, control functions, avionics integration, or subsystem architecture.
• Experience with requirements management and modeling tools such as JAMA, DOORS, Cameo, or similar tools.

Responsibilities

• Define, decompose, and manage system requirements with focus on electrical behavior and subsystem interactions.
• Develop and maintain technical documentation including architecture descriptions and interface control documents.
• Support development of electrical and functional architectures, including command/telemetry flow and power distribution.
• Collaborate with hardware, software, firmware, and test teams to ensure alignment with system requirements.

Skills

Electrical architecture

Subsystem integration

Controls development

Systems engineering

Documentation

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in electrical, systems, or aerospace engineering

Tools

JAMA

DOORS

Cameo

Job description

Rocket Lab in Tucson, AZ seeks a Principal Systems Engineer to lead electrical architecture and controls design across space payloads and platforms. You will drive system requirements, interface definitions, and verification activities while collaborating with hardware, software, and firmware teams on mission-critical aerospace programs.

This role supports programs for DoD/IC customers, requires strong documentation practices, and involves working with multidisciplinary teams to ensure