Spacecraft Systems Engineer IV

Firefly Aerospace, Inc.

Cedar Park (TX)

On-site

USD 140,000 - 210,000

Full time

1 hour ago

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Benefits offered by this job

Unlimited PTO

Sabbatical

Health benefits

Mental health services

Military leave

Maternity leave

Paternity leave

Family planning stipend

Dog-friendly workplace

Tuition assistance

Stock bonuses

401(k) matching

Home purchase bonus

Relocation benefits

Job summary

Firefly Aerospace, Inc. is seeking a Spacecraft Systems Engineer in Texas to drive the development of Blue Ghost and Elytra spacecraft from concept through fabrication and test.

You will collaborate across design, manufacturing, integration and flight teams to ensure system-level requirements are met and risks are managed. The role demands strong communication, rigorous systems thinking, and hands-on leadership in a fast-growing space company.

Qualifications

BS in Aerospace Engineering required.
10+ years hands-on experience on spacecraft projects.
Strong knowledge of first principles in engineering.
Experience leading interdisciplinary teams of hardware and software engineers.
Familiar with ASME, MIL, ASTM, and NASA standards.
Excellent written and verbal communication.
Experience through full lifecycle SRR to mission operations.
PMP or equivalent project management experience.

Responsibilities

Deliver robust, reliable, economical product meeting mission requirements.
Own requirements development, interfaces, and vehicle-level test plans.
Lead system-level trades, design reviews, data reviews for your vehicle.
Ensure verification of requirements and support mission operations.
Translate program plans into system-level success; communicate status.
Collaborate with manufacturing and integration teams; travel for offsite testing.

Skills

Communication

Public speaking

Leadership

Cross-functional teams

Project management

GNC analysis

Spacecraft design

Systems engineering

Agile methods

ASME/NASA standards

Education

BS in Aerospace Engineering

MS or PhD in Aerospace/Mechanical Engineering

PMP or equivalent project management certification

Tools

JIRA/Confluence/Bitbucket

Job description

At Firefly, we’re focused on making space attainable for everyone – including you! Each team member’s passion, dedication, and innovative ideas have a direct impact on fueling our successful trajectory into space. And there’s no shortage of meaningful projects to work on at Firefly. With launch, lunar, and orbital vehicles, Firefly has a diverse line of business with opportunities to get hands‑on experience launching rockets, operating in space, and landing on the Moon.

Our missions are powered by our incredible team ...

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What does SciTec bring to the Firefly family?
...

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Peep our Elytra orbiter being assembled in the ...

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Start your week with another Manufacturing Minute! ...

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This World Space Week, remember to look up and ...

The engine powering Alpha`s first stage is truly ...

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Our Values

Headquartered in the Lone Star State, Firefly’s hardworking team reflects Texas’ GO BIG culture in everything we do. We build big, achieve big, and dream big. We’re building launch vehicles and spacecraft to provide rapid, reliable space access. We’ve achieved some incredible wins, including the first successful commercial Moon landing. And we’re dreaming bigger than this planet with ambitions to Mars, Venus, and beyond. Our core values are what drive us along the way.

Passion

Fireflies believe in perseverance, responsiveness, and mentoring others with a focus on inspiring a better future.

Accountability

Fireflies act with integrity and take ownership of our actions, commitments, decisions, and outcomes.

Fireflies work in alignment across teams and communicate clearly with mutual respect for one another.

Fireflies deliver high-quality work through technical rigor and timely disciplined execution for our customers.

We take care of our Fireflies with some of the best benefits in the industry. Our mission to make space for everyone starts with our employees and allowing them to make space for their family, their career, and their future.

Space for You

Unlimited PTO for exempt employees
3-month sabbatical for every 5 years of service
Medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance
Mental health services
Paid military leave

Space for Your Family

12 weeks paid maternity leave
4 weeks paid spouse leave
$20k towards family planning: fertility, surrogacy, adoption
Dog friendly workplace

Space for Your Career

$10k/year towards trade school or college
Ongoing coaching to advance leadership skills
- Employee-ownership with stock bonuses
- 4% Safe Harbor 401(k) matching
- $10k bonus for home purchase in Cedar Park, Texas

Job Openings

From launch technicians to propulsion engineers, Firefly has open roles across the company. We’re looking for passionate, bright innovators to join our team and help make space an achievable dream for everyone.

Firefly Aerospace is a space and defense technology company that enables our world to launch, land, and operate in space – anywhere, anytime. As the partner of choice for critical space missions, Firefly is the only commercial company to launch a satellite to orbit with 24-hour notice and the only company to achieve a successful Moon landing. Our launch vehicles, lunar landers, and orbital vehicles provide government and commercial customers with full mission services from low Earth orbit to the Moon and beyond. Headquartered in north Austin, Texas, Firefly is looking for passionate, hardworking innovators to join our team and help fuel our successful trajectory into space.

SUMMARY

We welcome you to join Firefly as a Spacecraft Systems Engineer, to leverage your creative and technical expertise for the development of Blue Ghost and Elytra spacecraft over the product lifecycle from concept through fabrication, test & flight. You will work with design engineering, manufacturing, integration, test and launch teams to ensure the production of a thoroughly tested, operationally efficient and reliable vehicle that meets system level requirements. The Systems Engineering team is accountable for requirements, interfaces, and test planning - it will be your responsibility to validate the system architecture, manage technical budgets and design configuration between departments, develop test plans, ensure verification of requirements, and support mission operations. You will be expected to be able to speak knowledgeably about the current system configuration and provide status updates on performance, changes, schedule, and risks. It will be your job to translate program plan and engineering team’s vision into system level success. A successful candidate will be a self-starter, elevate their teammates and be passionate about the space industry.

RESPONSIBILITIES

To deliver a robust, reliable, and economical product successfully completing all mission requirements by...

Creating and maintain system-level designs, schematics, interface control documents and performance budgets including fluid, electrical, and software architectures.e.g. ICDs, ConOps, States & Modes, Sequence Diagrams, FBD, Boundary Diagrams, Grounding/Bonding Diagrams, Mass/Power/Link/dV/etc Budgets
Owning requirements development/flowdown, subsystem interfaces, and vehicle level test plans. Reviewing all test plans for your vehicle.
Leading system-level trades, design reviews, and data reviews for your vehicle.Accountable for delivery of SRR, and PDR, responsible for providing critical inputs to CDR, MRR, TRR, and LRR.
Being accountable for the resolution of any issue, failure, or NCR that impacts closure of your test plans. Includes root cause analysis and issuing of corrective actions.
Facilitating the change control board, risk review board, deliverable tracking and effort estimates for your vehicle.
Maintaining a strong rapport with the manufacturing and integration technicians, understanding their challenges and proposing upstream opportunities for improvement.
Traveling to support offsite testing.
Serving as surge capacity for the operations team during demanding missions and supporting 12 hour shifts during lunar mission operations.
Maintaining calm under pressure, and fostering a positive, professional, and respectful working environment.

QUALIFICATIONS

Required

BS in Aerospace Engineering or related engineering discipline required
10+ years of focused hands‑on experience in an interdisciplinary project management or execution role on spacecraft, equivalent work will be considered.
Firm comprehension and demonstrated application of first principles in engineering disciplines (orbital mechanics, controls, mechanical, structural dynamics, electrical, mechatronics, materials, thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, and propulsion).
Experience leading interdisciplinary project teams of including hardware and software engineers.
Strong working knowledge of ASME, MIL, ASTM, and/or NASA Standards, as well as Systems Engineering best practices – able to adapt processes to meet the needs of the team.
Exceptional communication (written and verbal), public speaking and presentation skills.
Experience through the full lifecycle of a spacecraft mission from SRR to mission operations.
Strong working knowledge of GNC analysis and cislunar mission planning.
Strong working knowledge of the lunar surface environment and robotics.
MS or PhD in Aerospace/Mechanical Engineering or equivalent technical field.
Strong working knowledge of real time visual navigation systems for autonomous control.
Experience designing spacecraft architectures or critical subsystems for reliability and radiation resiliency.
Strong working knowledge of fabrication and assembly methodologies, production management tools, and quality control processes.
Experience tailoring SMC/AFSPCM/91-710 equivalent range documents; understanding, documenting and resolving the technical implications and risks associated with the tailoring.
Experienced on Agile Project Management using Atlassian tools (JIRA, confluence, bitbucket)
PMP or equivalent project management experience

Firefly offers outstanding benefits for our employees, including generous health, dental and vision plans with low plan deductibles, parental leave, relocation benefits, educational reimbursement, short term disability, and flexible PTO options.

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Firefly Aerospace, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Firefly is governed based on merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

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