Staff Systems Engineer – Mission Analyst Verified today

About the Role

The Staff Systems Engineer - Mission Analyst is a recognized technical expert responsible for leading the design, analysis, modeling, and optimization of satellite missions and low Earth orbit (LEO) constellations across multiple programs. This role defines and influences mission architecture, constellation strategy, and long-term orbital operations concepts to ensure mission performance, resilience, scalability, and sustainability.

You will operate as a technical authority within a multidisciplinary engineering environment, providing leadership in mission analysis, constellation design, orbital dynamics, and system-level trade studies. You will partner with engineering leadership, program stakeholders, and customers to shape requirements, evaluate architectural trades, and drive data-informed decisions from early concept development through deployment, operations, replenishment, and end-of-life planning.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead development of mission analysis frameworks, simulation architectures, and advanced modeling tools for LEO constellation design and optimization.
• Define and influence constellation architecture, including sizing, orbital placement, coverage strategy, and long-term scalability.
• Lead system-level trade studies and evaluate competing mission architectures, orbital configurations, and operational concepts.
• Establish technical baselines for constellation performance, operational constraints, and mission design assumptions.
• Provide technical direction and expert review of mission analysis products across multiple programs and engineering teams.
• Serve as technical authority for orbital mechanics, constellation dynamics, and long-term orbital behavior modeling.
• Lead analysis of perturbation effects including gravity harmonics, atmospheric drag, solar radiation pressure, and related environmental influences.
• Define strategies for constellation maintenance, including station-keeping, orbit optimization, and collision risk mitigation.
• Lead planning for constellation replenishment, replacement strategies, and end-of-life disposal to ensure long-term sustainability and regulatory compliance.
• Develop and guide autonomous constellation control strategies and high-level operational concepts for fleet-wide management.
• Lead system-level analysis of communications performance including coverage, capacity, latency, and connectivity across constellation architectures.
• Integrate communications constraints and performance drivers into mission and constellation design decisions.
• Partner with systems engineering and communications teams to define mission requirements, performance metrics, and operational constraints.
• Serve as a senior technical advisor to systems engineering, spacecraft engineering, flight software, mission operations, and program leadership teams.
• Lead technical reviews, architecture boards, and mission readiness assessments.
• Present complex technical findings and architectural recommendations to executive stakeholders, customers, and technical governance bodies.
• Provide mentorship and technical leadership to engineers across mission analysis and systems engineering disciplines.
• Ensure accuracy, traceability, and technical rigor across all mission analysis products and documentation.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Astrodynamics, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Systems Engineering, Applied Mathematics, or related technical field.
• 8+ years of relevant experience in mission analysis, orbital mechanics, spacecraft systems, constellation design, or related aerospace disciplines. Master's degree in these fields with 6+ years of relevant experience may be considered.
• Deep expertise in LEO constellation design, architecture development, and lifecycle operations.
• Advanced experience developing and leading simulation frameworks and mission analysis tool chains.
• Expert understanding of orbital perturbations including drag, gravity field variations, and solar radiation pressure.
• Strong command of satellite operations, mission planning, and autonomous constellation management strategies.
• Expert knowledge of communications system performance and its impact on mission architecture.
• Advanced ability to translate system requirements into executable models, architectures, and operational concepts.
• Strong mathematical, analytical, and systems thinking capabilities.
• Demonstrated ability to lead technical decision-making in complex, multi-system environments.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to influence technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Proficiency in orbital analysis tools such as STK, GMAT, or FreeFlyer.
• Proficiency in Python or similar analytical and modeling tools.
• Experience with advanced data visualization, mission simulation platforms, version control systems (Git, GitLab, Bitbucket), and collaboration platforms (Confluence, SharePoint).

Work Environment

Primarily office and engineering development environment. Full-time position in Westminster, CO.

Compensation and Benefits

Full-time employment offers include company stock options and a generous benefits package including health, dental, vision, HSA, FSA, life, disability and retirement plans.

US Person Requirement

To conform with United States Government Space Technology Export Regulations, the applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., conditional resident, asylee or refugee (protected individuals as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.