Mission Lead Engineer (Aerospace)

TL;DR

Mission Lead Engineer (Aerospace): Define, mature, and negotiate mission concepts for national security satellite programs with an accent on payload integration studies, system architecture trades, and concept of operations development. Focus on leading technical discussions with customers, coordinating cross-functional engineering teams, and ensuring alignment between customer requirements and spacecraft capabilities.

Location: Los Angeles, CA. Must be a U.S. Person as defined by ITAR (U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual). Ability to travel up to 25%.

Salary: $125,000 - $250,000 + equity

Company

Building the largest and highest-power satellites for missions from LEO to deep space, backed by major investors and government contracts.

What you will do

• Define, mature, and negotiate mission concepts, supporting payload integration, mission analysis, and system architecture trades.
• Develop technical documentation for system architecture, payload interfaces, spacecraft capabilities, and concepts of operations.
• Serve as primary technical interface for customer engagement, leading discussions, TEMs, and study reviews.
• Coordinate cross-functional efforts with vehicle engineering, avionics, software, propulsion, thermal, and AI&T teams.
• Represent hirify.global in technical negotiations and ensure practical, executable solutions.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering; 5+ years in aerospace/space industry working with spacecraft or space systems.
• Direct experience designing, developing, integrating, or testing spacecraft/space systems.
• Strong understanding of spacecraft subsystems, space system architectures, mission modeling, and simulation.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.
• Must be a U.S. Person per ITAR regulations.

Nice to have

• Master’s degree or above in engineering.
• 10+ years experience with spacecraft, launch vehicles, airborne systems, or payloads.
• Experience with National Security customers and systems.
• Satellite constellation modeling, simulation, multibody dynamics.
• Payload performance modeling (EO, RF, IR, comms, PNT).
• Deep knowledge of national security ground systems architectures.

Culture & Benefits

• Comprehensive benefits: paid time off, medical/dental/vision, life insurance, paid parental leave.
• Equity in the company.
• Fast-paced Series C startup environment focused on groundbreaking space missions.
• Encourages non-traditional career paths and motivated individuals.