Systems Engineer, Spacecraft Design & Simulation (Spacecraft Simulation)

Location: Onsite in Long Beach, California, United States. The role requires access to information subject to U.S. export controls; the person hired must be a U.S. person or otherwise eligible for deemed export licensing.

Salary: $112,340–$195,552 USD annually, depending on level and qualifications.

Company

hirify.global develops next-generation commercial space stations and spacecraft infrastructure to support a continuous human presence in space, microgravity research, manufacturing, and a growing space economy.

What you will do

• Own and evolve the spacecraft design, simulation, and digital twin toolchain covering power, thermal, ADCS, orbital mechanics, constellation coverage, communications link budgets, mass, and design margins.
• Make the toolchain the engineering hub for cross-functional trade studies across thermal, GNC, power, structures, and other disciplines.
• Use executable models to drive design trades, architecture decisions, requirements analysis, and impact assessments as spacecraft designs evolve.
• Maintain the digital twin as the program’s engineering record for requirements, budgets, design parameters, and trade study results.
• Build validation and verification suites using hand calculations, independent tool cross-checks, edge-case analysis, and regression testing.
• Train and support engineers so they can perform trade studies and analysis independently.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, physics, or a related technical discipline.
• At least 4 years of spacecraft systems engineering or mission analysis experience.
• Broad spacecraft subsystem knowledge across power, thermal, ADCS, and orbital mechanics.
• Strong analytical skills, including the ability to develop thermal equilibrium, orbital power, and pointing error calculations.
• Experience with rigorous validation, cross-functional collaboration, AI-assisted development workflows, and reading and reviewing code.
• Must meet U.S. export-control eligibility requirements as a U.S. person or otherwise be eligible for deemed export licensing.

Nice to have

• Experience building or maintaining spacecraft simulation tools and engineering validation suites.
• Familiarity with orbital mechanics, including Kepler solvers, J2 perturbations, and eclipse geometry.
• Familiarity with CMG dynamics, quaternion attitude propagation, data visualization tools, MBSE, and requirements verification.
• Experience scaling engineering tools and analysis workflows across a growing team.
• Ability to obtain a security clearance and demonstrated use of AI-assisted code generation on an engineering project.

Culture & Benefits

• Full-time exempt employment with company equity.
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents.
• Paid time off, paid parental leave, disability insurance, and life insurance.
• Access to a 401(k) retirement plan, mental healthcare, ClassPass credits, and other discounts.
• Onsite food perks including snacks, coffee, drinks, dinner meals, and subsidized lunch.