Principal Systems Engineer

Job Summary

The Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) is seekingan accomplished Principal System Engineer to provide technical leadership for the development of world-class scientificinstruments supporting a broad range of spaceflight missions. Theseinstruments span Earth science, planetary science, heliophysics,astrophysics, and emerging national and international spaceinitiatives.

As a Systems Engineer, you will serve as the technical integratorfor LASP instruments throughout formulation, development,integration, environmental testing, launch, and mission operations.

Working closely with scientists, project managers, and multidisciplinary engineering team, you will ensure that scientificobjectives remain aligned with engineering decisions throughout theinstrument lifecycle.

This is an opportunity to influence every aspect of flightinstruments while working alongside internationally recognizedscientists, engineers, and mission partners. Successful candidates are team focused, thrive in technically ambiguous environments,make sound engineering decisions with incomplete information, andknow how to balance scientific performance, technical risk, cost,and schedule to deliver exceptional science.

CU is an Equal Opportunity Employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment. We are committed to creating a workplace where all individuals are treated with respect and dignity, and we encourage individuals from all backgrounds toapply, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.

LASP combines the agility of a university laboratory with the technical capability of a premier space mission organization.

Engineers work directly alongside scientists, students, and missionoperators, allowing technical decisions to move quickly while maintaining scientific excellence.

As part of the University of Colorado Boulder (CU), LASP began in1948 and is a world-recognized space science research institutethat implements the full life cycle of science missions from the definition of the science questions through the development ofspace flight hardware and the subsequent mission operations. We arethe only research institute in the world to have sent scienceinstruments to all eight planets, Pluto, and beyond the solarsystem.

LASP combines all aspects of space exploration through our expertise in science, engineering, mission operations, andscientific data analysis. As part of CU, LASP also works to educateand train the next generation of space scientists, engineers and mission operators by integrating undergraduate and graduate students into working teams. Our students take their unique experiences with them into government or industry or remain inacademia to continue the cycle of exploration.

As a principal SE, you will become the technical conscience of an instrument, ensuring that engineering decisions made acrossdisciplines remain aligned with the mission's scientificobjectives. You will serve as a technical leader within the Systems Engineering organization by mentoring early-career engineers,shaping systems engineering practices for the instruments, andmaking instrument-level technical decisions related to the successful verification and validation of the instrumentrequirements to meet science objectives.

• Serve as a technical authority for the flight instrumentthroughout formulation, development, integration, launch, and commissioning.
• Lead multidisciplinary engineering teams spanning mechanical,electrical, optical, thermal, software, I&T, contaminationcontrol, reliability, and science.
• Foster a collaborative engineering culture emphasizingtechnical excellence and sound engineering judgment.
• Mentor junior systems engineers and contribute to the growth ofthe project's systems engineering organization.

• Define and evolve the instrument technical architecture.
• Own instrument requirements, interfaces, verification planning,and technical baseline.
• Guide instrument-level trade studies balancing scienceperformance, technical risk, cost, and schedule.
• Participate in the development of the Systems Engineering Management Plan and Concept of Operations.
• Lead instrument technical reviews.

• Participate in the development of spacecraft-to-instrumentinterface definitions.
• Represent the instrument team in spacecraft technicalinteractions.
• Ensure successful accommodation of instrument resources including mass, power, thermal, pointing, data volume, EMC, andfault management.
• Guide instrument and spacecraft-interface verificationsthroughout integration and test.
• Other Duties Assigned.

• Lead development of instrument assembly, integration,environmental testing, calibration, and characterization.
• Coordinate specialty engineering activities includingcontamination control, reliability, radiation, safety, and faultprotection.
• Manage instrument technical…