Principal Systems Engineer (Aerospace)

Location: Tucson, Arizona, United States; onsite work with travel or off-site work as needed

Company

hirify.global is an end-to-end space company developing rockets, spacecraft, optical systems, flight software, and other critical space subsystems for commercial, scientific, and national security missions.

What you will do

• Develop system, electrical, and functional architectures for space-based optical instruments, subsystems, and payloads.
• Define, decompose, and manage requirements covering electrical behavior, control functions, interfaces, and system performance.
• Create architecture descriptions, interface control documents, electrical interface definitions, operational concepts, state and mode descriptions, test plans, and verification artifacts.
• Collaborate with hardware, software, firmware, and test teams during payload development, integration, testing, and verification.
• Support troubleshooting, data analysis, design refinements, technical trades, and mitigation of electrical architecture and subsystem integration risks.
• Participate in technical interchange meetings and discussions with internal teams, customers, and external partners.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in electrical, systems, aerospace engineering, or another technical discipline.
• 12+ years of engineering experience, including 3+ years supporting development programs and 2+ years in technical leadership, CAM, IPTL, or an equivalent role.
• Strong systems and electrical engineering experience with aerospace, payload, avionics, instrument, or other complex systems.
• Experience with system requirements, interface definitions, verification approaches, integration and testing, and requirements or modeling tools such as JAMA, DOORS, or Cameo.
• Familiarity with command and telemetry interfaces, power architectures, signal paths, timing, synchronization, control logic, and subsystem interactions.
• For U.S. office work, eligibility under U.S. ITAR regulations is required, including U.S. citizenship, lawful permanent residence, qualifying refugee or asylum status, or eligibility to obtain the required authorizations.

Nice to have

• Current SSBI clearance and EO/IR payload integration experience.
• Experience with spacecraft bus interfaces, payload electrical integration, avionics architecture, embedded electronics, or closed-loop control systems.
• Experience with sensors, actuators, motors, power systems, embedded controllers, pointing, stabilization, gimbals, or motion control.
• Background in astronomy, physics, remote sensing, environmental testing, or mission assurance.
• Strong communication, task management, and cross-functional coordination skills.

Culture & Benefits

• Work on real space hardware and missions supporting commercial, scientific, defense, and intelligence customers.
• Collaborative, multidisciplinary environment spanning hardware, software, firmware, and test engineering.
• Fast-paced work with tight deadlines, technical ownership, and emphasis on practical execution.
• Physical work may include prolonged sitting, standing, walking, computer work, and occasional exposure to moderate noise, dust, and fumes in production areas.