Senior Space Systems Engineer — Flight Safety & Reentry Lead

Telemetry Today LLC; El Segundo, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 179,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Relocation support

Equity / stock options

401(k) matching

Wellness reimbursement

Paid holidays

Parental leave

Job summary

Varda Space Industries in El Segundo, CA seeks a Senior Space Systems Engineer to architect mission safety and reentry compliance. You will lead flight safety analysis, regulatory strategy, and cross-functional collaboration to ensure compliant, safe flight hardware and mission execution.

Responsibilities include owning FHA/FMEA, casualty/debris risk models, and real-time safety limits, while coordinating with regulators and internal teams to deliver compliant licenses for launch and reentry.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in aerospace, mechanical, electrical, manufacturing, systems engineering or related field.
• Minimum 5 years of relevant aerospace engineering experience, with a previous role involving mission assurance, flight safety, or a senior systems engineering role.
• Demonstrated experience with FAA Part 450, expected casualty modeling, trajectory dispersion, and/or debris analysis.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to influence cross-functional teams and present to executives/customers/regulators.
• Strong experience with risk management methodologies and tools (FMEA, FHA, Fault Tree Analysis).
• Experience with integration of interdisciplinary systems in the aerospace industry.

Responsibilities

• Own the technical regulatory strategy, Means of Compliance, and safety cases for FAA launch and reentry authorizations.
• Own vehicle-level functional hazard analyses (FHA) and failure mode and effect analyses (FMEA).
• Maintain Expected Casualty and debris risk models to ensure all mission phases meet regulatory safety thresholds.
• Establish technical safety limits and mission rules for real-time on-console operations.
• Responsible for vehicle-level deliverables to regulatory organizations, in the service of mission reentry licenses and authorizations.
• Act as the Flight Safety responsible engineer during mission rehearsals and live recovery operations.

Skills

Flight safety

FHA & FMEA

Regulatory compliance

System integration

Risk management

Communication

FAA licensing

Cross-functional leadership

Education

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

Job description

Varda Space Industries in El Segundo, CA seeks a Senior Space Systems Engineer to architect mission safety and reentry compliance. You will lead flight safety analysis, regulatory strategy, and cross-functional collaboration to ensure compliant, safe flight hardware and mission execution.

Responsibilities include owning FHA/FMEA, casualty/debris risk models, and real-time safety limits, while coordinating with regulators and internal teams to deliver compliant licenses for launch and reentry.