Seeker Responsible Engineer (Electro-Optical Systems)

Location: Onsite near Denver, Colorado, or Long Beach, California. U.S. citizenship, lawful permanent residency, protected individual status, or eligibility to obtain required U.S. Department of State authorizations is required under ITAR regulations.

Salary: $155,000–$220,000 in Denver or $165,000–$230,000 in Long Beach, plus equity and benefits.

Company

hirify.global develops autonomous spacecraft, advanced payloads, mission software, and space-based interceptors for U.S. and allied space-security missions.

What you will do

• Own the technical direction, integration, and performance of the seeker sensor system from concept through on-orbit operation.
• Decompose system requirements into subsystem and component specifications with full verification traceability.
• Coordinate optical, detector, electronics, firmware, and software teams to deliver a coherent seeker design.
• Perform radiometric budgeting, signal-chain modeling, synthetic image generation, and image-processing analysis.
• Define and support seeker integration, characterization, qualification, calibration, and model-based testing.
• Prepare technical specifications, interface requirements, analysis reports, test plans, and program presentations.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Optical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, or a related field; a master’s degree is preferred.
• 7+ years of professional experience designing and developing electro-optical systems across VNIR through LWIR.
• Experience serving as a system or subsystem Responsible Engineer with ownership of requirements, integration, and performance verification.
• Expertise in radiometric analysis, signal-chain performance modeling, and noise budgeting.
• Experience with EO sensor calibration, on-orbit CONOPS, technical documentation, and stakeholder presentations.
• Must be located near Denver or Long Beach and meet U.S. ITAR authorization requirements.

Nice to have

• Seeker or homing sensor development experience in aerospace or defense.
• Optomechanical design, thermal modeling, or stray-light modeling experience with FRED, ASAP, or similar tools.
• Experience with space-qualified EO detectors and focal plane arrays across VNIR, MWIR, and LWIR.
• Familiarity with GNC interfaces, line-of-sight stabilization, and tracking algorithms.
• Experience in a fast-paced startup or similarly dynamic environment.

Culture & Benefits

• Equity compensation.
• Health, dental, vision, HRA/HSA options, PTO, and paid holidays.
• 401(k) and parental leave.
• Work on high-visibility spacecraft payload development efforts supporting space superiority.