Spacecraft Systems Engineer II Seen this week

About Firefly Aerospace

Firefly Aerospace is a space and defense technology company on a mission to reliably and repeatedly launch, land, and operate space systems from Earth to the Moon and beyond. Headquartered in north Austin, Texas, Firefly was the first commercial company to launch a satellite to orbit with 24-hour notice and the first to achieve a successful Moon landing.

The Role

Join Firefly as a Spacecraft Systems Engineer II to lead the development of Blue Ghost and Elytra spacecraft from concept through fabrication, test, and flight. You will work across design engineering, manufacturing, integration, test and launch teams to deliver thoroughly tested, operationally efficient and reliable vehicles that meet system-level requirements.

As a Systems Engineering team member, you are accountable for requirements, interfaces, and test planning. You will validate system architecture, manage technical budgets across disciplines, develop test plans, ensure requirements verification, and support mission operations.

Key Responsibilities

• Create and maintain system-level designs, schematics, interface control documents and performance budgets including fluid, electrical, and software architectures (ICDs, ConOps, States and Modes, Sequence Diagrams, Boundary Diagrams, Mass/Power/Link/dV budgets)
• Own requirements development and flowdown, subsystem interfaces, and vehicle-level test plans; review all test plans for your vehicle
• Lead system-level trades, design reviews, and data reviews; accountable for delivery of SRR and PDR, and provide critical inputs to CDR, MRR, TRR, and LRR
• Manage resolution of any issue, failure, or NCR impacting test plan closure, including root cause analysis and corrective actions
• Facilitate change control board, risk review board, deliverable tracking and effort estimates for your vehicle
• Maintain strong working relationships with manufacturing and integration teams; identify upstream improvement opportunities
• Travel to support offsite testing
• Serve as surge capacity for operations team during demanding missions, including 12-hour shifts during lunar mission operations
• Maintain calm under pressure and foster a positive, professional working environment

Required Qualifications

• BS in Aerospace Engineering or related engineering discipline
• 4+ years of focused hands-on experience in interdisciplinary project management or execution on spacecraft (equivalent work considered)
• Firm comprehension and demonstrated application of first principles in engineering disciplines: orbital mechanics, controls, mechanical, structural dynamics, electrical, mechatronics, materials, thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, and propulsion
• Experience leading interdisciplinary project teams including hardware and software engineers
• Strong working knowledge of ASME, MIL, ASTM, and/or NASA Standards, and Systems Engineering best practices
• Exceptional written and verbal communication, public speaking and presentation skills

Desired Qualifications

• Experience through the full lifecycle of a spacecraft mission from SRR to mission operations
• Strong working knowledge of GNC analysis and cislunar mission planning
• Strong working knowledge of the lunar surface environment and robotics
• MS or PhD in Aerospace/Mechanical Engineering or equivalent technical field
• Strong working knowledge of real-time visual navigation systems for autonomous control
• Experience designing spacecraft architectures or critical subsystems for reliability and radiation resiliency
• Strong working knowledge of fabrication and assembly methodologies, production management tools, and quality control processes
• Experience tailoring SMC/AFSPCM/91-710 equivalent range documents
• Agile Project Management experience with Atlassian tools (JIRA, Confluence, Bitbucket)
• PMP or equivalent project management certification

Employment Terms

Firefly offers health, dental and vision plans with low deductibles, parental leave, educational reimbursement, short-term disability, and flexible PTO options.

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations including ITAR, you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.