Spacecraft Systems Engineer

SPACE SYSTEMS

This is a rare opportunity to play a key role in Rocket Lab’s evolution into an end-to-end space company that delivers launch, spacecraft, and on-orbit operations. The Space Systems Division is shaping Rocket Lab’s future with Photon, our brand of high-performance satellites, enabling innovative missions in low Earth orbit and beyond including missions for NASA to LEO, the Moon, and Mars and commercial customers, including leading the design and manufacture of 17 high-power telecommunication spacecraft buses for Globalstar.

Rocket Lab is also growing our spacecraft components business, anchored on the acquisition of Sinclair Interplanetary manufacturing reaction wheels and star trackers in Toronto, SolAero Technologies manufacturing solar power and primary structure solutions in Albuquerque, Planetary Systems Corporation manufacturing launch separation systems in Silver Spring, and Advanced Solutions, Inc., provider of flight and ground software as a service in Denver. Our components business is key to vertically integrating our spacecraft solutions and enabling constellations for customers.

SPACECRAFT SYSTEMS ENGINEER

Based out of Rocket Lab's global headquarters in Long Beach, CA, the Spacecraft Systems Engineer is responsible for the development and maintenance of technical budgets, requirements definition, test planning and execution, and overall management of the systems engineering process. You will support the Chief Space Systems Engineer and Space Systems organization, with deliverables required for internal leadership, board of directors, and investors.

WHAT YOU’LL GET TO DO:

• Develop and maintain:
  • Technical budgets for vehicle performance
  • System requirements and verification techniques
  • Simulations and analysis across vehicle functions
  • Test methods and data analysis
• Lead and own technical development of spacecraft missions
• Assist with program and product management
• Develop, in collaboration with team members, interface specifications, CONOPS definition, and other design documents

YOU’LL BRING THESE QUALIFICATIONS (Note: you must meet every qualification in order to be considered):

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or other technical discipline
• 2 years of experience with satellite development programs

THESE QUALIFICATIONS WOULD BE NICE TO HAVE:

• Advanced degree in engineering or other technical discipline
• Understanding of key spacecraft subsystems and their associated components, including: attitude determination and control (ADCS), electrical power systems (EPS), space-ground communications, on-orbit command and data handling (C&DH), and thermal control
• Thorough understanding of the space environment, orbital mechanics, and rigid body dynamics
• Experience with Matlab, Python, and STK
• Experience with requirement management tools such as JAMA or DOORS
• Experience with satellite operations
• Experience with testing electrical subsystems and assemblies, thermal vacuum or random vibration, and hardware-in-the loop (HITL) testing
• Ability to work in a dynamic environment with competing priorities