Sr. Systems Engineer

Albedo is making Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) mainstream, building the infrastructure to enable every satellite mission to enter this new orbital domain. We build buses, integrated satellites, and turnkey missions for customers to thrive in VLEO, below 300 km, where proximity compounds performance and drag self-cleans debris.

As part of the first 100 employees at Albedo, you will have a big impact on Albedo’s trajectory to proliferating VLEO — whether you’re advancing hardware to increase satellite longevity, scaling production for large constellations, building next‑gen flight and ground software to push performance, or enabling missions that matter for national security and our day‑to‑day life here on Earth.

How We Operate: Albedo takes a first‑principles approach — in space and in business. We move with speed, take calculated risks, and learn quickly. We use AI regularly to create leverage in every discipline across the company. We work in‑person at our Broomfield, CO HQ to maximize team and company productivity. We work hard and with urgency to compound our first‑mover advantage.

Who We're Looking For: Builders who want to own outcomes, not tasks. Systems thinkers who balance precision with iteration while thinking about the big picture. Individuals who are energized by creating a category rather than competing in an existing one. You’ll join a team that has already proven what others said wasn’t feasible and is now scaling and upgrading our VLEO buses & payloads to serve mission sets across sensing, communications, and responsive operations.

• Contribute to the design and development of Albedo's VLEO spacecraft, driving system-level architecture, requirements definition, interface management, and technical trade studies from early mission development through on‑orbit operations
• Collaborate closely with engineering teams across GNC, avionics, payload, thermal, power, and flight software to ensure seamless subsystem integration and alignment with mission objectives
• Develop, analyze, and maintain critical spacecraft performance budgets, including pointing accuracy, power, thermal, and data throughput, to inform design decisions and validate system performance
• Support spacecraft integration, verification, and testing, including functional, performance, and environmental testing, troubleshooting, and post‑test analysis
• Own and maintain system requirements, interface documentation, and verification traceability, ensuring technical consistency across spacecraft platforms and missions
• Identify and resolve system‑level technical challenges and integration risks, particularly those unique to VLEO operations, including atmospheric drag, atomic oxygen exposure, and high‑precision pointing requirements
• Partner with customers, payload providers, and vendors to define technical interfaces, align requirements, and support successful mission execution
• Help shape and scale Albedo's systems engineering processes with opportunities to influence spacecraft design decisions and own systems engineering execution across the full mission lifecycle

• 3–6 years of experience in systems engineering or related roles within aerospace, preferably spacecraft or high‑performance hardware platforms
• Familiarity with spacecraft subsystems (avionics, power, thermal, GNC, payload) and how they interact at the system level
• Experience developing and running system level analysis and test to meet mission objectives
• Exposure to integration and test campaigns: environmental testing, functional testing, or cross‑subsystem bring‑up
• Familiarity with modeling tools (e.g., MATLAB, Simulink, or Python‑based frameworks) and an interest in expanding simulation skills
• Strong organizational and…