System Engineer
Location: Los Angeles, California
Compensation: Competitive base salary + package
Environment: Smallsat Design and Manufacturing
What if your next spacecraft started with a conversation?
A customer comes to you with a mission.
They know what they want to achieve in orbit. Your job is to help determine how we make it happen.
What does the spacecraft need to do? What are the mission constraints? How do power, communications, propulsion and the wider satellite architecture come together? What trades need to be made? And how do we turn that initial mission concept into a spacecraft that can actually be built, tested, launched and operated?
We’re looking for an experienced Systems Engineer to join a rapidly growing international small satellite company in Los Angeles.
This isn't a role where you'll simply manage requirements.
You'll sit at the intersection of the customer, the mission and the engineering teams responsible for building the spacecraft.
You'll take high-level customer objectives and translate them into system and subsystem requirements, working closely with hardware and software engineers to develop the right technical solution.
One day you might be discussing mission requirements with a customer.
The next, you're working through a power or link budget, evaluating a subsystem trade-off, reviewing a satellite architecture or helping the engineering team understand how a change impacts the wider mission.
You'll be involved throughout the lifecycle — from the first mission discussions and technical proposal through design, integration, testing and ultimately deployment.
We're particularly interested in people who have already spent 5+ years designing and developing nanosatellites or small satellites and understand how the pieces of a spacecraft fit together.
You'll ideally bring experience across areas such as:
• Spacecraft system and subsystem requirements
• Small satellite/nanosatellite architecture
• Communications, power and propulsion systems
• Mission, power, link and delta-V budgets
• Technical trade studies and system-level analysis
• STK, GMAT or similar mission-analysis tools
• SysML/UML and graphical system modelling
• DFMEA and engineering risk management
• Python, C or C++
• Jira and Confluence
• Customer-facing technical discussions and proposals
Experience supporting US Government or defence customers would be particularly valuable.
And then there's the location.
You'll be based in the Los Angeles area, right in the middle of one of the world's largest concentrations of space and defence companies, customers, launch providers and engineering talent.
You'll also collaborate internationally with engineering teams across Europe, with opportunities for occasional international travel.
This environment won't suit everyone.
It's fast.
It's technical.
It's delivery focused.
And you'll be expected to take ownership rather than wait for somebody else to solve the problem.
But if you're the type of Systems Engineer who wants to understand the entire spacecraft rather than one small piece of it, you'll have the opportunity to work on genuinely challenging missions and next-generation satellite technology.
You must be based in Los Angeles or willing to relocate to Southern California and be a US citizen or US permanent resident due to ITAR/EAR requirements.
Salary: $165,000–$215,000 + health insurance, matching 401(k) and team performance bonus.