Project Systems Engineer

An upcoming NASA heliophysics mission answers outstanding questions regarding the origins of ionosphere‑thermosphere variability. Specifically, it pursues understanding of how Earth weather influences Space weather through the propagation of dynamics on multiple temporal and spatial scales under quiet and active solar conditions. The Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) is seeking an accomplished Project System Engineer (PSE) to provide technical leadership for this mission as well as future programs.

As the lead systems engineer for the entire mission, you will work with project leadership to shape the technical direction of the program from early formulation through launch and mission operations. This is a rare opportunity to influence every aspect of a flight mission while working alongside internationally recognized scientists, engineers, and mission partners. You will lead multidisciplinary engineering teams, establish the project's systems engineering organization, guide mission architecture, and ensure technical coherence across all aspects of the mission including payloads, spacecraft, ground systems, mission operations, to meet science objectives.

This mission is being implemented through a partnership in which the spacecraft bus is provided by an external institution. As Project Systems Engineer, you will provide technical leadership for the spacecraft acquisition effort, ensuring contractor deliverables, interfaces, technical performance, and mission integration satisfy project objectives while maintaining a collaborative relationship with our mission partner. Successful candidates thrive in technically challenging environments, make sound engineering decisions with incomplete information, and know how to balance mission performance, cost, schedule, and risk to enable 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 to apply, 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 mission operators, allowing technical decisions to move quickly while maintaining scientific excellence. As part of the University of Colorado Boulder (CU), LASP began in 1948 and is a world‑recognized space science research institute that implements the full life cycle of science missions from the definition of the science questions through the development of space flight hardware and the subsequent mission operations.

We are the only research institute in the world to have sent science instruments to all eight planets, Pluto, and beyond the solar system. LASP combines all aspects of space exploration through our expertise in science, engineering, mission operations, and scientific data analysis. As part of CU, LASP also works to educate and 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 in academia to continue the cycle of exploration.

• As the lead SE for the mission, you will work with the project leadership and become the technical conscience of the project, ensuring that engineering decisions made across dozens of disciplines remain aligned with the mission's scientific objectives.
• Serve as the primary technical authority for the mission, influencing mission architecture, technical strategy, risk posture, and engineering decisions throughout the project lifecycle.
• Establish and lead the project's Systems Engineering organization, including mentoring, recruiting, and developing systems engineers across the mission.
• Provide technical leadership to multidisciplinary engineering teams spanning payloads,…