Simulation Manager

York Space Systems; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

401K plan

PTO (paid time off)

Job summary

York Space Systems is seeking a senior leader to own and grow the simulation tools ecosystem. You will manage roadmaps, drive releases, and mentor a team of engineers building and validating flight sim environments.

You will partner with stakeholders to translate requirements into robust, scalable simulations and ensure reliable deployment for mission-critical workflows.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in STEM or related field.
• 8+ years in software engineering.
• 3+ years leading engineers or mentoring teams.
• Proficient in Python and C++, with performance-sensitive code.
• Knowledge of physics-based modeling or control systems.
• Experience leading software development and release processes.
• Strong communication across engineers and leadership.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of 8-12 engineers with strong leadership and career growth.
• Set priorities across three simulation products and manage roadmaps.
• Own roadmaps, release cadences, and versioning strategies.
• Communicate status, risks, and trade-offs to SIT leadership.
• Gather requirements from stakeholders and customers for features and fixes.
• Improve software development, testing, and deployment practices.
• Ensure documentation, training, and validation records.

Skills

Python

C++

Leadership

Software dev

Physics modeling

System architecture

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in STEM

Tools

Git

Docker

SITL/HITL

Python tooling

Job description

Austin, TX, 7701 North Lamar Blvd, Austin, Texas, United States of America

Job Description

Posted Tuesday, September 1, 2026 at 4:00 AM

York Space Systems was founded to radically improve spacecraft affordability and reliability, transforming, and enabling next- generation space mission operations worldwide. Today, York is one of the most innovative aerospace companies, specializing in end-to-end customer solutions and the rapid production of spacecraft platforms. York’s complete Space Segment Solution includes spacecraft production, payload integration, system integration & test, launch services, ground segment services, and mission operations, enabling customers to leverage York’s existing technology solutions to get to orbit rapidly and responsively. We’re looking to expand our team across the board.

The simulation domain own s York's physics simulator and the model of the spacecraft that flight software is tested against. Alongside it, the interface emulators stand in for real avionics interfaces, an API exposes f ault interfaces to manip ulate models , and a messenger application attaches for reading and logging simulation messages. This team builds new simulation capabilities, proves they are correct, and authors the mission scenarios that exercise them. When a regression test passes against our simulation , the flight software team needs to be able to trust that the spacecraft would behave the same way in orbit.

In this role you will own our simulation tools product s , not just a s codebase s . That means a real roadmap and release cadence, versioned models and documented interfaces, and clear commitments to the teams that depend on your simulations. You will keep the overall vision of the simulation domain organized and aligned with the requirements of internal and external stakeholders, assuring that quality work gets done in a timely manner . You will foster the growth of all simulation products as well as the engineers on your team building and maintaining them.

Responsibilities

• Manage a team of 8-12 engineers with strong leadership skills, including tasking, technical direction, career growth, and performance
• Set priorities across the three simulation products, working through a designated engineering lead for each, and grow that structure as the group scales
• Own the simulation product roadmaps, release cadences, and versioning strategies
• Communicate status, risks, and trade-offs clearly to SIT leadership and internal stakeholders
• Interact with stakeholders and customers to gather feedback and requirements for feature requests and bugfixes
• Implement and improve software development, testing, and deployment practices that meet division and department standards for software
• Ensure quality of product documentation, user guides, training, and model validation records
• Manage and monitor releases and ensure products are stable for deployment

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or greater in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Computer Science, or related field
• 8 + years of experience in software engineering or a related field
• 3 + years of e xperience leading or mentoring engineers, including tasking and technical direction
• Demonstrated development experience in both Python and C++, including performance-sensitive code
• Working knowledge of physics-based modeling, numerical methods, or control systems
• Experience leading others in software development, whether as a manager, technical lead, or both
• Experience designing, building, deploying and operating software applications in a production environment
• Experience with software product release processes
• Strong communication skills and the ability to set priorities across multiple concurrent products and stakeholders
• Ability to communicate technical tradeoffs, priorities, and progress clearly to both engineers and leadership
• Experience with writing test documentation, such as test plans, procedures, reports, and defect records
• Capable of managing multiple tasks while delivering according to program milestones and release commitments

Desired Qualifications

• Experience with both product and people management, including owning a roadmap and release cadence
• Background in orbital mechanics, attitude dynamics, or GN&C
• Experience emulating hardware interfaces or spacecraft bus protocols
• Experience validating simulation models against test or flight data
• Experience designing and versioning APIs consumed by other teams
• Familiarity with spacecraft flight software and avionics architectures
• Experience with real-time or discrete-event simulation frameworks
• Experience with Docker and containerization
• Experience with Software-in-the-Loop (SITL) and/or Hardware-in-the-Loop (HITL) test systems
• Experience in end-to-end, system-level automated testing
• Experience with agentic or AI-assisted software development workflows
• Ability to interface with and handle flight hardware
• Familiarity with the space domain and satellite operations
• Networking concepts like UDP/TCP
• Active Top Secret security clearance or ability to obtain

Benefits

In addition to compensation, York Space Systems is proud to offer a comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, and vision insurance along with PTO and a 401K.

York Space Systems provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, military or protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws. Must have permanent authorization to work in the United States. This policy applies to all terms and conditions or employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training. YORK SPACE SYSTEMS IS AN EEO EMPLOYER.