Payload Integration Engineer - Level 4

Sophia Space is a venture‑backed deep technology company building high‑performance, energy‑efficient computing systems designed to operate in orbit. Our work sits at the intersection of aerospace systems, advanced computing, artificial intelligence, and applied physics, enabling a new generation of distributed edge computing capabilities in space.

Having successfully completed our Seed financing, Sophia is focused on scaling its team, products, and capabilities as we prepare for the next stage of growth. We are building a world‑class engineering organization that combines expertise from aerospace, cloud computing, robotics, and AI to solve some of the most challenging problems in space infrastructure. As both a product company and an engineering‑driven organization, we actively leverage modern AI tools throughout our development process to accelerate learning, improve productivity, and help deliver innovative, environmentally responsible computing platforms for the future.

Lead the systems engineering, integration, and test of payloads flown on Sophia missions, serving as the technical owner of the payload‑to‑bus boundary from concept through on‑orbit commissioning. The near‑term focus is integrating an electro‑optical imager for Sophia's first TILE demonstration mission, with future missions expanding into additional imaging modalities, science instruments, RF payloads, and optical communications terminals.

Working closely with systems, avionics, software, mechanical, thermal, mission operations, spacecraft providers, and payload customers, this role is responsible for defining interfaces, driving technical trades, managing payload integration risks, and ensuring payload requirements are successfully implemented across the spacecraft. The position combines systems engineering, payload integration, electro‑optical engineering, software/firmware integration, and integration & test leadership.

Success requires balancing deep technical ownership with cross‑disciplinary leadership, enabling payload providers, spacecraft engineers, and software teams to work together toward successful mission execution while maintaining disciplined engineering practices in a fast‑moving startup environment.

This position is primarily in‑person in Pasadena, California, with occasional hybrid flexibility based on business needs.

U.S. Person status is required due to ITAR/EAR export‑control regulations. U.S. Persons generally include U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents (green card holders), and certain protected individuals as defined by applicable regulations.

• Serve as the primary internal technical owner for payload accommodation across Sophia missions.
• Own payload‑to‑bus Interface Control Documents (ICDs), including mechanical, electrical, thermal, software, operational, and data interfaces.
• Lead requirements flow‑down, verification planning, CONOPS development, and payload verification activities.
• Perform and review accommodation trade studies involving mass, power, thermal, data, pointing, and operational constraints.
• Maintain payload integration technical risks, support FMEA activities, and lead anomaly disposition.
• Define technical requirements supporting future optical communications terminal integration.

• Plan and execute payload integration and test campaigns from initial integration through launch readiness.
• Develop integration procedures, verification plans, test procedures, checkout scripts, and anomaly resolution processes.
• Define MGSE and EGSE requirements supporting payload integration activities.
• Coordinate payload environmental testing including thermal vacuum, vibration, shock, and EMI/EMC campaigns.
• Support launch campaigns, pre‑launch verification, LEOP, and on‑orbit payload commissioning.

• Provide technical leadership on electro‑optical payload performance, including radiometry, MTF, SNR, pointing stability, optical alignment, and calibration.
• Verify end‑to‑end optical performance through integration, environmental testing, and flight commissioning.
• Support…