Satellite & Ground Systems Engineer

A rapidly growing space and geospatial technology organization is hiring an experienced Satellite & Ground Systems Engineer to support the development and operation of next-generation satellite systems, ground infrastructure, and mission operations capabilities.

This is a highly technical systems engineering position-not a documentation-focused role. You will help translate complex mission objectives into integrated and executable system designs spanning spacecraft, payloads, communications, software, ground systems, and operational environments.

You will work across the full systems engineering lifecycle, from early mission architecture and requirements development through integration, verification, deployment, and sustained operations.

• Develop mission concepts, Concepts of Operations, operational scenarios, mission threads, and use cases.
• Translate stakeholder and customer objectives into clear system requirements and architectures.
• Elicit, decompose, allocate, manage, and maintain requirements across complex multidisciplinary systems.
• Develop high-level architectures spanning spacecraft, payloads, communications, ground infrastructure, software, and mission operations.
• Maintain traceability between stakeholder needs, requirements, architecture, interfaces, verification plans, and test results.
• Perform functional analysis, system decomposition, interface definition, and technical trade studies.
• Partner with hardware, software, spacecraft, payload, ground, communications, and operations teams.
• Support system integration, verification, validation, deployment, and operational sustainment.
• Contribute to formal engineering reviews including SRR, PDR, CDR, TRR, and SVR.
• Drive technical decisions and ensure consistency across multiple concurrent development programs.

• Bachelor’s degree in Systems Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Physics, or a related discipline.
• At least six years of systems engineering experience within aerospace, defense, robotics, autonomous systems, or another complex multidisciplinary environment.
• Experience developing system architecture from stakeholder needs through implementation and verification.
• Strong experience developing Con Ops, mission scenarios, use cases, and operational threads.
• Experience managing system requirements, allocation, decomposition, and traceability.
• Understanding of the complete systems engineering V-model and system development lifecycle.
• Working knowledge of Model-Based Systems Engineering and SysML.
• Experience working across hardware, software, interfaces, and operational domains.
• Strong technical communication and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Ability to balance multiple complex programs within a fast-paced engineering environment.

• Ten or more years supporting spacecraft, satellite constellations, remote sensing systems, ground systems, or mission operations.
• Leadership of systems engineering activities across end-to-end space systems.
• Satellite communications, RF links, or optical inter-satellite cross links.
• Cameo Systems Modeler, Magic Draw, Enterprise Architect, or similar MBSE tools.
• STK or other tools within the Ansys engineering suite.
• DOORS Next, Jama Connect, Polarion, or comparable requirements management platforms.
• Development of interface definitions and Interface Control Documents.
• Digital engineering and model-centric development environments.
• Verification planning, verification matrices, test planning, and system validation.
• ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288, INCOSE, or NASA systems engineering practices.
• Git, Jira, Confluence, configuration management, and engineering change processes.

The successful candidate will combine architectural thinking with practical engineering execution. You should be comfortable owning complex technical problems, building alignment between engineering disciplines, and helping development teams move quickly without sacrificing traceability or technical rigor.

This is an opportunity to play a central role in shaping resilient satellite and ground systems designed for demanding commercial and national security missions.

Candidates must be U.S. citizens due to the nature of the programs and applicable U.S. export-control requirements.