Senior Satellite Design Engineer

I’m partnering with a fast-scaling space technology company developing a novel ground-based kinetic launch system designed to dramatically reduce the cost and increase the cadence of satellite deployment into low Earth orbit. Alongside its launch innovation, the company is building out a next-generation broadband satellite constellation and is now hiring a Senior Satellite Design Engineer to take ownership of satellite architecture and production strategy for its Meridian program.

This is a high-impact technical leadership role within a small, early-stage constellation team, ideal for someone who has deep hands-on experience building and scaling small satellite systems in modern “new space” environments and is ready to shape a spacecraft program from first principles through to production.

This is a full time, onsite position in Long Beach, CA (relocation assistance available). Due to ITAR requirements, you must either be a US citizen or Green Card holder at the time of application.

Key Responsibilities:

• Own and finalise the end-to-end satellite design for a next-generation LEO broadband constellation, identifying system-level gaps and driving cross-subsystem solutions.
• Lead architecture trade studies across subsystem design, vendor selection, cost optimisation, and risk mitigation to define a scalable production approach.
• Define manufacturing, qualification, and test strategies, including batch testing, reliability standards, and program-level risk posture.
• Adapt satellite designs to integrate proprietary payload and antenna technologies while meeting mission and customer requirements.
• Provide technical direction to internal engineers, vendors, and subcontractors to guide development from design through execution.
• Influence system-level decisions across power, thermal, structures, avionics, and communications subsystems.

Key Qualifications:

• 5–12 years of experience in satellite systems engineering or spacecraft design within modern “new space” organisations.
• Direct experience working on LEO satellite constellations or high-volume small satellite programs (e.g., Starlink, OneWeb, Planet, or similar).
• Proven ownership of satellite-level architecture, subsystem trade-offs, or end-to-end systems engineering responsibility.
• Experience taking satellites from design through build, test, qualification, and production scaling.
• Prior technical leadership experience on at least one satellite programme.
• Strong full-stack spacecraft understanding across power, thermal, structures, avionics, and communications systems.
• Proficiency with modelling and analysis tools such as MATLAB, Python, or equivalent.
• Hands-on experience defining satellite manufacturing, qualification, and test strategies in production environments.

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