Optical System Architect

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 National Systems Group serves as the technical advisor to the Intelligence Community and its mission partners involved in the collection and distribution of national and tactical intelligence, including electronics programs, advanced technologies, ground and communications, imagery programs, and systems engineering and launch.

The Imagery Programs Division’s (IPD) GEOINT Future Architecture’s (GFA) department is seeking an Optical System Architect (
Project Engineer/Senior Project Engineer - Modeling and Simulation Engineering
) to serve as a technical adviser to the government's future architecture. The office is a high-pace, high-impact environment, where Aerospace provides technical recommendations and solutions for GEOINT systems, directly influencing budgets and acquisition decisions for the next generation GEOINT space architecture. The office regularly engages with customer leadership as well as other agencies, creating many opportunities for high visibility work in the GFA department.

In this role, you will lead Aerospace activities that help Government customers define future Electro-Optical (EO) architectures, advance capabilities, and develop CONOPs. You will communicate programmatic and technical risks and opportunities to Aerospace management, Government leadership, and system contractors. For a Senior Project Engineer role, you must also work within Aerospace and across programmatic boundaries to enable Aerospace contributions to the GEOINT and Future Architectures enterprise.

This position requires 100% on site work in Chantilly, VA

• Lead and coordinate domain experts from Aerospace’s Engineering Matrix organization to perform design trades at the payload, vehicle, and constellation level in the evaluation of future GEOINT architectures for performance, user requirements satisfaction, and mission utility
• Respond to urgent technical questions originating from multiple agencies (NRO, NGA, ODNI, DoW), NRO Leadership, and Congress
• Communicate programmatic and technical issues and provide independent recommendations to Aerospace management, the Government customer and other contractors
• Provide daily organization and technical oversight for task execution, managing pertinent budgets, regularly communicate status and findings to customer counterparts and management.
• Review contractor concept proposals and independently evaluate system capabilities against user needs to highlight opportunities and risks to the Government
• Serve as advisor and mentor to SETA, Aerospace, and Customer representatives as they learn technical aspects of program execution
• Work in a fast-paced environment with many interesting technical challenges that require strategy, critical thinking and collaboration to provide solutions

Minimum Requirements for the Project Engineer
- Modeling and Simulation Engineering
:

• Bachelor's or Advanced degree in science, engineering, mathematics or related technical discipline
• 6 or more years of increasingly responsible professional engineering/science experience
• Technical experience in architecture modeling, orbital mechanics and space systems
• Familiarity with optical remote sensing missions and payloads
• Demonstrated capability to address and solve complex challenges
• Strong organization and communication skills
• This position requires an active TS security clearance which is issued by the U.S. government. U.S. citizenship is required to obtain a security clearance

In addition to the above, the following are the minimum requirements for the Senior Project Engineer
- Modeling and…