Senior System Engineer

EVONA; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

EVONA is seeking a Space Systems Lead for an early-stage space company near San Francisco Bay. You will own architecture and requirements for flight optical terminals and spacecraft electronics, guiding the product through qualification, AIT, launch and commissioning.

In a fast-paced, small-team environment you’ll lead SRR/PDR/CDR/TRR activities, develop V&V and qualification strategies, supervise environmental testing, and coordinate interfaces with launch providers and external partners to

Qualifications

• End-to-end understanding of spacecraft development and test lifecycle.
• Demonstrable experience with flight hardware.
• Strong systems architecture and requirements experience.
• Experience with spacecraft AIT.
• Ability to work with substantial autonomy.
• Radiation effects knowledge.

Responsibilities

• Define architecture for flight optical terminals and spacecraft electronics.
• Own requirements development and subsystem flow-down.
• Manage mass, power, thermal, link and pointing budgets.
• Lead SRR/PDR/CDR/TRR activity.
• Develop V&V and qualification strategies.
• Lead environmental testing including vibration, TVAC, EMC and radiation-related activity.
• Coordinate interfaces with spacecraft buses, launch providers and external partners.
• Own AIT campaigns and support launch-site operations.
• Help troubleshoot flight hardware and support commissioning/anomaly resolution.

Skills

Flight hardware

Systems engineering

Requirements engineering

Environmental testing

AIT

Autonomy

Optical payload / laser comm

Job description

Space Systems Lead - Hybrid | San Francisco Bay - Flight Hardware

I’m looking for a Space Systems Lead for an early-stage space company moving quickly while building genuine flight hardware.

The team is developing optical communications technology for spacecraft applications, and they need an engineer who can take ownership from architecture and requirements through qualification, AIT, launch and commissioning.

The sweet spot is someone who understands rigorous space systems engineering but thrives in a smaller organisation where engineers are expected to solve problems themselves.

Key Responsibilities

• Define architecture for flight optical terminals and supporting spacecraft electronics.
• Own requirements development and subsystem flow-down.
• Manage mass, power, thermal, link and pointing budgets.
• Lead SRR/PDR/CDR/TRR activity.
• Develop V&V and qualification strategies.
• Lead environmental testing including vibration, shock, TVAC, EMC and radiation-related activity.
• Coordinate interfaces with spacecraft buses, launch providers and external partners.
• Own AIT campaigns and support launch-site operations.
• Help troubleshoot flight hardware and support commissioning/anomaly resolution.

Key Requirements

You could come from a spacecraft prime, NewSpace manufacturer, constellation business, payload developer or similarly fast-moving space hardware environment.

• Demonstrable experience with flight hardware.
• End-to-end understanding of the spacecraft development and test lifecycle.
• Strong systems architecture and requirements experience.
• Practical environmental test and qualification knowledge.
• Experience with spacecraft AIT.
• Understanding of radiation effects, parts selection and mitigation.
• Ability to operate with substantial autonomy.
• Optical payload, laser communications, hosted payload or precision pointing experience is advantageous.
• Startup/small-team experience is useful but not essential.
• Must be a U.S. Person as defined under ITAR.

This isn't a narrow requirements-management position. You’ll be expected to architect, build, test and deliver, working alongside a highly technical team on hardware intended for demanding operational missions.

If your background sits somewhere between systems architect and hands-on spacecraft engineer, I’d like to hear from you.