Job Title: Systems Engineer
Job Category: Engineer (E2, E3)
Job Location: Seattle WA
Job Type: Full-Time

At Spaceflight we are creating the future. We are transforming how spacecraft are built, launched and operated and our customers are using these technologies to push the boundaries of space exploration and look at our planet in entirely new ways. Being a pioneer is not easy – it requires ingenuity, creativity, perseverance and dedication. We are looking for exceptional people who have these traits to be part of our exceptional team. If you think you qualify, please tell us why in a cover letter and include your resume.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS/EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE:

Bachelors degree from an accredited college in a related discipline, with 5 - 10 years of professional experience; or a related Masters degree with 2 - 10 years of professional experience. MUST BE U.S. CITIZEN.

DUTIES SPECIFIC TO THIS POSITION:

This position is ideal for a candidate who knows a spacecraft is a highly integrated system where changes to any part impacts the others in complicated and non-obvious ways, and who takes pride in understanding a change can only be simple if you’ve considered and mitigated the unintended consequences, designed clean interfaces between complimentary components, and planned for evolution. You intuit that a simple radio change might impact a spacecraft’s mechanical packaging, structural margins, mass properties, electrical interfaces, power budget, link budget, concept of operations, communications architecture, avionics design, antenna selection, and even regulatory licensing; more, you find this exciting, not daunting. You must be comfortable with developing (from scratch and first-principles if necessary) models and simulations to support analyses and guide trade studies. The ideal candidate understands in a given context what is important to model and what is in the noise—when to use the back of an envelope, a spreadsheet, a Simulink model, or a full hardware-in-the-loop simulation. The ideal candidate is eager to live the end-to-end systems engineering lifecycle and has practical experience in several areas of it: requirements development, modeling and simulation, performing multidisciplinary trade studies, test, qualification, verification, and on-orbit operations support. You must think rockets are cool, satellites are cooler, and have a good sense of humor.

SKILLS NEEDED:

• Has performed analysis of Monte Carlo simulation data and would sooner sell their grandmother than present statistical results without confidence intervals.
• Knows how to write a good requirement, fix a bad one, notice when an important one is missing, and delete a useless one. Knows the verification methods by heart and can explain them to someone like they are five.
• Supports mechanical, electrical, manufacturing, and software engineers in the design and development of balanced systems, and is comfortable knowing this is often achieved when each discipline is equally cross at you.
• Proficient with modeling tools and scripting languages such as Matlab/Simulink, Python, or STK.
• Interfaces with program management and customers to convey analysis results and present reports.
• Advocates for proper configuration management, always documents his/her methodology, and is always willing to change an opinion in light of new data.
• Proficient with Microsoft Office Tools.
• A voracious reader and self-motivated learner who will never possibly understand enough to be satisfied.
• Team oriented, with good time management and communication skills.
• Desired: Experience show-running large program design reviews (e.g. PDR, CDR).
• Desired: Experience with Windchill configuration and data management software.
• Desired: Experience with software version control (e.g. Git, Hg, SVN)
• Desired: A familiarity with formal risk and opportunity management processes, but with a nagging feeling that it’s rarely done effectively.
• Desired: A distrust of analysis only documented in PowerPoint.
• Desired: A general distrust of PowerPoint, and a love/hate relationship with Excel.
• Desired: A curiosity about why so many people think six Star Wars movies have been made.