Senior Space Systems Engineer — Mission Platforms Lead

Umbra; Santa Barbara (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible Time Off

Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, LTD,STD

401k with company contribution

Stock Options

Free parking / transit reimbursement

Free lunch daily

Job summary

Umbra, an American space technology company, is seeking a Senior Systems Engineer to lead a complex mission program across space, ground, launch, and operations. You will align technical baselines, manage risks, and coordinate with customers, partners, and internal teams.

Based on-site in Arlington, Reston, or Santa Barbara, CA, you will drive technical reviews, support mission design and modeling, and mentor multidisciplinary engineers to deliver critical space capabilities.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of systems engineering in aerospace, spacecraft, or remote sensing programs.
• Knowledge of SAR and remote sensing mission concepts of operations.
• Experience with mission modeling and simulation tools such as STK, FreeFlyer, or similar platforms.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and lead systems engineering documentation, technical reviews, and customer presentations.
• Experience with flight operations, ground systems, and flight‑software maintenance or sustainment.
• Ability to lead multidisciplinary engineering teams and drive technical issues to resolution.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with customers and senior program leadership.
• Willingness and ability to travel domestic and internationally as required.

Responsibilities

• Own and maintain the program technical baseline, ensuring requirements, interfaces, architecture, and technical decisions remain aligned across the program.
• Provide systems engineering leadership across the Space Element, Ground Element, Launch Element, Mission Operations, and Mission Design/Modeling & Simulation.
• Maintain technical alignment among Umbra engineering teams, program management, external partners, and the customer.
• Partner daily with the Program Manager to address customer requests, maintain program scope, identify and manage technical risks, and develop program offsets.
• Support mission design, analysis, and modeling & simulation activities using tools such as STK, FreeFlyer, or equivalent.
• Apply knowledge of SAR and remote sensing to system design and mission execution.
• Lead the development, coordination, and delivery of systems engineering documentation and customer-facing presentations.
• Serve as Umbra technical lead at reviews, acceptance events, and milestones (CDRs, ICDs, VCRMs).
• Support flight operations, ground-system sustainment, and flight-software maintenance throughout program execution.

Skills

Systems engineering

SAR knowledge

Modeling & simulation

Cross-functional leadership

Technical reviews

Flight operations

Tools

STK

FreeFlyer

Job description

Umbra, an American space technology company, is seeking a Senior Systems Engineer to lead a complex mission program across space, ground, launch, and operations. You will align technical baselines, manage risks, and coordinate with customers, partners, and internal teams.

Based on-site in Arlington, Reston, or Santa Barbara, CA, you will drive technical reviews, support mission design and modeling, and mentor multidisciplinary engineers to deliver critical space capabilities.