Project Engineer, Space Systems

Hydrosat; New Orleans (LA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Hydrosat is seeking a Product Manager/Engineering-focused leader to own the production delivery engine and integrate AI-first practices into product development. You will drive the end-to-end lifecycle from design handoff to mass production while maintaining velocity and quality across cross‑functional teams.

You will work closely with UX, software, data engineering, science, and customer success; travel internationally as needed to coordinate with European suppliers and production partners.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, physics, or related technical field.
• 10+ years in engineering, manufacturing, or technical project leadership for high‑reliability hardware.
• Proven technical leadership of multidisciplinary teams.
• Experience transitioning hardware from development to production.
• Knowledge of drawings, BOMs, configuration control, and test acceptance.

Responsibilities

• Lead production engineering execution across fabrication, assembly, integration, and test.
• Coordinate with engineering leadership to transition designs into production with complete docs.
• Plan production workflow, staffing, material needs, capacity, and milestones.
• Manage readiness reviews and close gaps before builds begin.
• Resolve issues with manufacturing, quality, suppliers, and engineering teams.
• Provide feedback to improve producibility and repeatability.
• Maintain configuration control and traceability of hardware.

Skills

Technical leadership

Independent work

Cross-functional collaboration

English communication

Project coordination

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering or physics

Tools

CAD tools (SolidWorks)

PDM/MES/ERP systems

Hardware test & QA processes

Job description

Hydrosat is a space and data analytics company building a new Earth observation constellation and software platform to unlock the power of thermal infrared imagery. We deliver high-resolution thermal insights that help governments, defense agencies, and agribusinesses better manage water resources, agricultural production, national security threats, and critical infrastructure.

We grow through two distinct routes to market – government programmes, and commercial data and subscription products – and our product and engineering teams build the platform that powers both.

We're looking for a product manager who will own the operating system that turns product decisions into shipped, high-quality product, in addition to bringing AI-first practices into the product development process.

As we scale, we need to balance long-term vision and strategy with the need to move quickly and iterate based on customer feedback. This role bridges that gap. By taking ownership of the delivery engine – the process, speed, and quality of what we ship – you enable the organization to maintain high velocity while deepening our strategic focus. You'll also bring in AI and associated tools to accelerate the product development process: hands‑on prototyping, building workflow automations, and driving adoption across the product team.

This role reports into the Head of Product and works closely with UX design, software and data engineering, science and customer success teams, and product marketing. This is an execution‑first role with a clear growth path: as the platform scales and new use cases come online, there is scope to own a product surface end‑to‑end.

Responsibilities

• Lead the technical execution of European payload production, plan and coordinate manufacturing, assembly, integration, test, and delivery activities across multiple disciplines

• Work with engineering team leadership to transition released designs into production, ensuring requirements, drawings, bills of materials, procedures, and acceptance criteria are complete and usable

• Work with Technical Program Management to plan production workflow, staffing, material needs, capacity, milestones, and ensure schedules reflect actual progress and remaining work

• Coordinate manufacturing and test readiness reviews, identify gaps before builds begin, and carry actions through to closure

• Resolve production and test issues with manufacturing, quality, suppliers, and the rest of the engineering team; coordinate nonconformance disposition, root‑cause analysis, and corrective actions

• Coordinate local design work for tooling, fixtures, test equipment, and approved hardware improvements; provide manufacturing feedback to engineering leadership to improve producibility and repeatability

• Maintain configuration control of production hardware and documentation, including released designs, approved changes, as‑built records, and component traceability

• Work with procurement and Technical Program Management to plan production material needs, track long‑lead items, and resolve shortages or supplier issues that affect build schedules

• Establish working relationships with European suppliers and manufacturing partners, communicate technical and quality requirements, and review hardware and supporting documentation

• Plan and lead production assembly, integration, and acceptance testing, including procedures, test equipment readiness, anomaly resolution, and verification records for each delivered unit

• Coordinate delivery of documentation and payload integration support with spacecraft providers, customers, and partners, and incorporate lessons learned into subsequent builds

• Keep European production aligned with the international engineering team through clear technical exchanges and reporting on build status, risks, and decisions; use first article and qualification results to inform production readiness

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, physics, or related technical discipline, or equivalent relevant technical experience

• 10+ years of experience in engineering, manufacturing, or technical project leadership for spacecraft, optical instruments, or other complex, high‑reliability hardware

• Demonstrated technical leadership of multidisciplinary teams as a Project Engineer, Manufacturing Engineer, Systems Engineer, Technical Lead, or in a comparable role

• Experience transitioning hardware from engineering development into production and coordinating manufacturing, assembly, integration, test, and delivery

• Working knowledge of engineering drawings, bills of materials, configuration control, hardware traceability, quality processes, and acceptance testing

• Hands‑on experience supporting hardware builds and testing, including troubleshooting, nonconformance resolution, and corrective actions

• Ability to work independently, organize competing production priorities, and bring technical issues to resolution with manufacturing teams, engineers, and suppliers

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including proficiency in English and the ability to present technical issues clearly to engineering teams and leadership

• Ability to work on‑site at Hydrosat’s European office and travel internationally as needed for engineering coordination, supplier visits, production transfer, and integration activities

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience manufacturing and delivering space-based optical payloads, including thermal infrared or multispectral imaging instruments

• Experience using first article and qualification results to establish production processes and acceptance testing for flight hardware

• Familiarity with European space hardware manufacturing and product assurance practices, including ECSS standards

• Experience with production process improvement, manufacturing readiness, and coordination across international engineering teams and European suppliers

• Familiarity with CAD tools such as SolidWorks, product data management tools such as SolidWorks PDM, and MES/ERP systems used to manage production materials and builds