Systems Director - Systems Engineering & Integration

The Aerospace Corporation; United States; On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

On-site work

Telecommuting option

Los Angeles area office

Job summary

The Aerospace Corporation seeks a senior Systems Director to lead system engineering and integration for ESS space segment programs. You will own architecture, requirements, and interfaces, coordinating with DoD, USSF, and contractor teams to deliver critical space capabilities.

This build-it role requires independence and strong technical judgment, with at least a track record in leading complex, multi-agency programs. On-site at Los Angeles AFB with some telecommuting may be available.

Qualifications

• Extensive leadership in space systems engineering and architecture.
• Proven experience in requirements decomposition and lifecycle traceability.
• Strong collaboration with DoD, USSF, and contractor teams.

Responsibilities

• Own the ESS architecture, decomposition, requirements allocation, and interfaces.
• Direct end-to-end requirements management across the system lifecycle.
• Own the technical baseline and change management discipline.
• Drive ICDs to completion and ensure robust interfaces.
• Lead integration planning across contractors and agencies.
• Improve SE&I processes and align with DoD/USSF policies.
• Lead gates such as PDR and CDR and readiness reviews.
• Coordinate verification and validation planning.
• Provide technical oversight of contractor SE&I activities.
• Identify and mitigate technical risks early.

Skills

Systems Leadership

Requirements management

Architecture definition

ICD development

Risk management

DoD policy

Job description

The Aerospace Corporation is the trusted partner to the nation's space programs, solving the hardest problems and providing unmatched technical expertise. As the operator of a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC), we are broadly engaged across all aspects of space- delivering innovative solutions that span satellite, launch, ground, and cyber systems for defense, civil and commercial customers. When you join our team, you'll be part of a special collection of problem solvers, thought leaders, and innovators. Join us and take your place in space.

The Defense Systems Group (DSG) provides analysis-based decision support to senior leaders on space architectures, policy and strategy, technology development, warfighter capability enablers, systems integration, defense industrial base, and threat reduction to help shape existing and future space missions across the national security space (NSS) enterprise. DSG is unique at Aerospace as it not only directly supports major customers, including the U.S. Space Force, U.S. Space Command, Air Force Material Command, and senior leadership at the Pentagon, but also provides a broad range of technical support across the national space enterprise, maintaining vertical responsibilities with customers' portfolios as well as horizontal, matrixed responsibilities across the corporation. Additionally, DSG provides deep technical expertise to the Space Force Space Systems Command (SSC) in the conception, design, acquisition, launch and operations of satellite, launch vehicle, ground control, and range systems.

The nation is recapitalizing the strategic communications architecture that underwrites nuclear command, control, and communications. Evolved Strategic SATCOM (ESS) is that recapitalization. It is a presidential-priority program, it is on an unforgiving timeline, and the technical architecture is being set by a small number of people. We are looking for one of them.

The ESS program office is seeking a Systems Director to lead system engineering and integration for the ESS space segment within the Strategic Communication Systems sub-division. You will serve as the senior technical authority supporting the USSF program Chief Engineer, operating inside an integrated program office of Air Force, Aerospace, SE&I, SETA, and contractor personnel.

This is a build-it role, not a sustain-it role. You will own the system architecture, the requirements baseline, and the integration strategy for a constellation that must work on its worst day, under conditions no other satellite system is asked to survive. Decisions you make will be flying in hardware in less than a decade from now and will shape how the United States communicates with its strategic forces for a generation.

You will lead a team of exceptional systems engineers, and you will have the independence that comes with being the government's trusted technical conscience, Aerospace's role, is to give the customer the technical truth. We are looking for deep technical expertise, the judgment to know which 10% of the problems actually matter, and the leadership presence to hold a technical line in a room full of strong opinions. The work is classified.

The selected candidate will be required to work full-time, on-site at our facility at Los Angeles Air Force Base. One day per week of telecommuting may be possible depending on customer needs and management approval.

What You'll Be Doing

Owning the architecture

Establishing and maintaining the ESS system architecture, functional decomposition, requirements allocation, and interface definition across the space, ground, and user segments

Directing requirements management end to end: development, decomposition, allocation, verification, and traceability across the system lifecycle

Owning the technical baseline and configuration control, including the change management discipline that keeps a fast program from quietly drifting off its requirements

Driving the ESS Interface Control Documents (ICDs) to completion, the interfaces are where this system will succeed or fail, and they will be yours

Making integration happen

Leading integration planning and execution across multiple contractors, government agencies, and program elements

Improving the system engineering processes and integration frameworks for the program, aligned to DoD and USSF acquisition policy

Directing the major technical gates such as PDR, CDR, and integration readiness reviews and being the person whose assessment the customer trusts when it's time to pass or hold

Coordinating verification and validation planning so requirements are testable and test approaches are credible before anyone builds hardware

Providing technical oversight of contractor SE&I activities, insight, not just oversight

Seeing it coming before it arrives

Leading system-level technical risk management: finding the risks nobody has written down yet and driving mitigations while they're still cheap

Giving Aerospace leadershi