Mission Architect (Staff-level)

Location: Redondo Beach, United States; onsite. Applicants must be U.S. Persons or eligible to obtain an export license under applicable U.S. export regulations.

Salary: $175,000–$205,000 per year, plus potential stock options and benefits.

Company

hirify.global is an in-space transportation company developing vehicles 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.
• Translate ambiguous customer goals into quantitative mission requirements, performance thresholds, evaluation criteria, and success metrics.
• Develop modeling and simulation tools for coverage, latency, revisit, constellation behavior, mission availability, NIIRS scoring, and resilience.
• Derive requirements for payload sensitivity, ΔV envelopes, timelines, communications, coverage, and mission-specific performance.
• Evaluate conceptual solutions and engineering tradeoffs with Advanced Mission Concepts Engineers and other partners.
• Support government-focused pursuits, including white papers, BAAs, RFIs, challenge submissions, and red-team assessments.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a technical field.
• 8+ years of experience in aerospace, defense, or the intelligence community, focused on mission analysis, systems-of-systems engineering, or operational modeling.
• Experience deriving quantitative requirements from ambiguous or incomplete customer inputs.
• Proficiency with mission-level modeling tools such as STK or AGI Analysis Workbench and scripting languages including Python and MATLAB.
• Familiarity with payload performance modeling, constellation analysis, ground segment architectures, C2 systems, and cyber considerations.
• Eligibility for a U.S. security clearance and ability to obtain TS/SCI are required.

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 organizations.
• Experience with U.S. Government space S&T customers, mission utility assessments, Analysis of Alternatives, mission risk models, or operational simulations.
• Experience with EO/IR, radar, SIGINT, or other payload performance modeling and conceptual vehicle architecture.

Culture & Benefits

• Full-time employment in a startup environment.
• Medical, vision, and dental coverage.
• Access to a 401(k) retirement plan.
• Potential eligibility for long-term incentives in the form of stock options.
• Travel of up to approximately 25% to engage with government customers, program offices, and industry partners.

Hiring process

• Application and resume review.
• Introductory and technical phone interviews.
• Onsite interview followed by an offer decision.