Mission Architect (Staff-level)

Location: Redondo Beach, United States; onsite. Travel up to approximately 25%.

Salary: $175,000–$205,000 per year.

Company

hirify.global Space develops in-space transportation vehicles and services for orbital transport, constellation deployment, precision reentry, and delivery of payloads beyond Low Earth Orbit.

What you will do

• Lead mission-level analysis across payloads, constellations, ground systems, command and control, cyber, and operational contexts.
• Convert ambiguous customer goals into quantitative mission requirements, derived requirements, success criteria, and performance thresholds.
• Develop and use modeling and simulation tools for coverage, NIIRS scoring, gap times, latency, availability, constellation behavior, and resilience.
• Evaluate conceptual solutions with Advanced Mission Concepts Engineers and assess the mission impact of engineering tradeoffs, cost reductions, replenishment strategies, and performance changes.
• Lead mission architecting during early capture phases and support white papers, BAAs, RFIs, challenge submissions, and requirements-shaping discussions with government customers and FFRDC/UARC partners.
• Conduct red-team assessments, account for operational and adversary constraints, and build reusable mission-analysis models and tools with industry and government partners.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a technical field.
• 8+ years of experience in aerospace, defense, or the intelligence community in mission analysis, systems-of-systems engineering, or operational modeling.
• Ability to derive quantitative mission requirements from ambiguous or incomplete customer inputs.
• Proficiency with mission-level modeling tools such as STK, AGI Analysis Workbench, or EO/IR performance tools, plus Python and MATLAB.
• Familiarity with payload performance modeling, constellation analysis, ground segment architectures, C2 systems, and cyber considerations.
• Strong technical writing skills for mission-analysis reports, concept studies, and requirements-derivation documents.
• Eligibility for a U.S. security clearance and ability to obtain TS/SCI.
• Applicants must be U.S. Persons or eligible to obtain an export license under applicable U.S. export regulations.

Nice to have

• Master’s degree or PhD in Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related field.
• Active TS/SCI clearance.
• Red-team experience with national laboratories, FFRDCs, UARCs, or similar mission-analysis organizations.
• Experience with U.S. Government space S&T customers, including DARPA, AFRL, NRL, NRO, SDA, or SSC.
• Experience developing mission utility assessments, Analysis of Alternatives, mission risk models, or operational simulations.
• Familiarity with EO/IR, radar, SIGINT, or other mission-specific payload performance modeling.
• Experience collaborating with conceptual design engineers or vehicle architects.
• Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced startup environment.

Culture & Benefits

• Full-time onsite work in Redondo Beach.
• Travel of up to approximately 25%.
• Potential long-term incentives in the form of stock options.
• Medical, vision, and dental coverage.
• Access to a 401(k) retirement plan.

Hiring process

• Application received and resume review.
• Introductory phone interview followed by technical phone interviews.
• Onsite interview and offer stage.