Satellite Electrical Propulsion Systems Engineer for Fastwater Staffing

HIKINEX; Montreal (WI); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

HIKINEX seeks a Satellite Electrical Propulsion System Engineer to define, design, analyse, integrate, and verify EP subsystems for remote sensing and communications satellites. The role bridges spacecraft power, thermal, and mission performance, and may act as EP authority on several programs.

You will lead design, analysis, and verification across thrusters, PPU, and feed systems, coordinating with vendors and customers to ensure reliability and performance in LEO/MEO environments.

Qualifications

• Experience in electrical propulsion for spacecraft is required.
• Strong background in electrical power, thermal management, and system-level integration.
• Ability to translate mission goals into EP system requirements and interfaces.
• Familiarity with propulsion hardware including thrusters, PPU, and feed systems.

Responsibilities

• Translate mission goals into EP system requirements (performance, power, mass).
• Produce System Requirements, ICDs, and description documents for EP hardware.
• Manage requirements and maintain traceability across programs.
• Perform power, thermal, and mass budget analyses; develop trade-off matrices.
• Lead mechanical/electrical design of thruster mounting, heater/thermal control, and PPU.
• Define propellant handling hardware and contamination control procedures.
• Negotiate ICDs with vendors and platforms; support tests and verification.
• Develop plume models and reliability predictions; oversee HIL tests.

Skills

Electrical propulsion

Systems engineering

Power/thermal analysis

Mission requirements

FDIR concepts

Communication

Education

B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering, Aerospace, or Physics

Tools

Confluence

JIRA

Job description

**Role overview:**

Our client is seeking a **Satellite Electrical Propulsion System Engineer** to define, design, analyse, integrate, and verify electric propulsion (EP) subsystems (thrusters, power-processing units, feed-systems, and control electronics) for current and next-generation remote sensing and communications satellites. The role will bridge spacecraft electrical power architecture, thermal-management, and mission-performance requirements, and may act as the technical authority for EP on multiple programs.

**Tasks summary:**

Architecture Concept & Requirements

• Translate mission-level ?V, thrust, lifetime, and reliability goals into EP system requirements (performance, power, mass, contamination, EMI).
• Produce System Requirements, Interface Control Documents (ICDs), and Description documents for thruster assemblies, Power-Processing Units (PPU), propellant feed & storage, and control electronics.
• Perform requirement management and maintain bidirectional traceability throughout the project lifecycle.

Detailed Design

• Perform system-level power, thermal, and mass budget analyses; produce trade-off matrices (thrust vs. power vs. propellant mass, reliability vs. complexity).
• Lead detailed mechanical/electrical design of thruster mounting, heater/thermal control, and PPU (converter, regulator, fault-protection).
• Define propellant handling hardware (tanks, valves, feed-lines, interconnects) and develop contamination control procedures.
• Negotiate ICDs and interface agreements with external thruster vendors and component suppliers.
• Support or Develop 1-D/3-D plume models and perform reliability prediction.

Modeling & Simulation

Software & Control

• Define command and telemetry interfaces for EP & health-monitoring telemetry.
• Work with FSW teams to develop thrust profile generation, and fault detection isolation recovery (FDIR) algorithms.

Cross-Functional Coordination, Stakeholder & Program Interaction

• Communicate technical status, risk assessments and trade-study results to senior management and/or customers or partners.
• Negotiate and manage ICDs with platform subsystems and supplier teams.
• Support B&P (Phase 0 & pre-phase A).

Integration & Verification (IVV)

• Develop verification plans, test matrices, and validation procedures for unit, subsystem, and spacecraft-level EP tests.
• Oversee hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) and thrust-stand testing, including thrust-calibration, specific impulse measurement, pulse-modulation, and lifetime cycling.

Technical Leadership & Mentorship

• Mentor, guide junior engineers and interns.
• Act as technical liaison with customers, partners and external vendors
• Act as Continuous Improvement stakeholder
• Contribute to our client's knowledge-base, process enhancements, and standards development.

Configuration, Documentation & Standards Management

• Author and maintain client's EP standards (thruster qualification, PPU design, contamination limits).
• * Ensure all artefacts, analysis, software, deliverables and documentations are version controlled in PLM environment.
• Support design reviews (SRR, PDR, CDR, MRR/TRR...etc.).
• Support Technology Road-Mapping & Innovation.

Launch-Site, On-Orbit & Operations Support

• Provide real-time EP support during launch, early-orbit checkout, and routine station-keeping.
• Support on-orbit checkout procedures, thruster test campaigns, and contingency recovery plans.
• Support SOOH development and associated operator training.
• B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering, Aerospace, or Physics with 8 years of electrical propulsion engineering experience on LEO/MEO platforms.
• Strong knowledge of EP thruster families and their performance characteristics.
• Experience with propellant storage & feed-system design (tanks, valves, micro-valves).
• Strong understanding of aerospace system engineering fundamentals, space environment and orbit mechanics.
• Hands-on individual who can support systems integration processes and capability to test systems and resolve problems.
• Experience with Confluence and JIRA.
• Demonstrated capability to efficiently work with little to no supervision
• Ability to distill complex problems to fundamentals to solve with analysis, similarity, or creativity.
• Demonstrate excellent written and oral communication skills in English; knowledge of French will be considered an asset (Contact with clients outside Quebec and work on deliverables in English).
• Support the Spacecraft operations team in critical phases.

**Required Qualifications: