M1 Senior Systems Engineer

The Giant Magellan Telescope is the most powerful ground-based telescope ever engineered. It was designed to push the boundaries of human knowledge and discover the unknown. With unmatched image quality, seven of the world’s largest mirrors will launch our view into the universe to uncover the cosmic mysteries of dark matter, investigate the origins of chemical elements, and search for signs of life on distant exoplanets for the first time.

The 30-meter class telescope is under construction at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile’s Atacama Desert, one of the best locations on Earth to view the heavens. From this unrivaled vantage into the southern sky, the Giant Magellan Telescope will produce the sharpest and most detailed images ever taken of our universe.

When complete in the early 2030s, the Giant Magellan Telescope will be the largest public-private funded science project in history. The endeavor was founded by an international consortium of 15 research institutions representing Australia, Brazil, Chile, Israel, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United States, and is managed by the GMTO Corporation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Pasadena, California. Our culture is impactful, inclusive, and fearlessly innovative.

We solve the most difficult engineering challenges and scientific questions with talented individuals who share a passion for revolutionizing humanity’s knowledge of the universe.

We invite you to join our team and leave your mark on astronomy’s future and beyond.

Primary Mirror Subsystem (M1)

Primary Mirror Subsystem Manager

The GMT project is seeking a Senior Systems Engineer (SSE) to join the Primary Mirror Subsystem (M1S) team who are responsible for the active optics, static support, and thermal control systems of the primary mirror. The active optics control system consists of pneumatic actuators that support the weight and controls figure error of the mirror segments and linear actuators that position the mirror segments.

Additionally, thermal figure error is controlled by actively regulating each mirror segment temperature using air handler units with CO 2 refrigerant. The M1S team has completed optical testing using the prototype active optics control and thermal control system and is now incorporating lessons learned. Our next major milestone is preparing for the Final Design Review (FDR). The M1S team is seeking a Senior Systems Engineer to lead the preparation for FDR including tracking resolution of non-conformances, updating subsystem requirements, prepare the M1S team for peer reviews, maintain subsystem requirements in IBM DOORS, update Interface Control Documents (ICD), manage technical budgets, and manage M1S risks.

The candidate will be responsible for implementing GMT SE processes and best practices. The candidate will work closely with the M1S and Systems Engineering teams to make sure that key performance requirements are properly flowed down to M1S. The candidate will coordinate all M1S reviews and will be the liaison between the M1S team and its review committee. This includes writing Terms of Reference (ToR) before the reviews, identifying the review committee, setting up contracts and NDA for the review committee, organizing the peer reviews and FDR, and formal close out of actions afterward.

The candidate will work with the M1S team to identify new risks and regularly status the current set of risks.

The candidate must be experienced in working with multidisciplinary teams that have successfully delivered complex, high-precision opto-mechanical systems. The candidate will be responsible for coordinating the M1S team with weekly technical discussions. The candidate will work on high level documentation such as the M1S Requirements document, the M1S Architecture document, and all lower-level requirement documents that establish the baseline design of the subsystem.

The candidate must have good communication skills and be able to represent the M1S team in a professional manner both internally and externally to GMTO. The candidate is expected to be a motivated self-starter who can work with and lead engineers to resolve…