You will play a dual role within Kepler’s Systems Engineering team as a Satellite Systems Designer and Functional Lead for the Satellite Engineering and Analysis (SEA) team.
As a Satellite Systems Designer, you will be a key technical leader driving the architecture and execution of complex spacecraft systems. You will lead trades, ensure consistency across system budgets, and work closely with cross-functional teams to deliver robust spacecraft architectures.
In parallel, you will hold functional responsibility for the Satellite Engineering and Analysis (SEA) Team. In this role, you will help establish processes, enforce technical rigor, and mentor engineers in spacecraft architecture, technical budget ownership, and system-level analysis practices. This includes: spacecraft architecture definition standardization, system budgets (mass, power, link, propellant, reliability, availability), FMECA and FDIR standardization, and ensuring satellite system designs is a balanced and robust solution for each mission. As the team scales, you will help shape the team structure, identify capability gaps and hiring needs, participate in interviews and hiring decisions, and contribute to onboarding, peer evaluations, regular 1:1s, and team development.
This role begins as a discipline stewardship and technical leadership responsibility and is expected to grow into broader functional leadership as the team scales. It is well suited for a senior systems engineer who is interested in building a team, mentoring engineers, and eventually taking on people leadership responsibilities while remaining closely connected to spacecraft design and analysis.
Key Responsibilities:
Define system architectures and lead spacecraft-level engineering efforts
Develop and manage requirements, interfaces, and verification strategies
Conduct advanced trade studies, risk assessments, and performance analyses
Lead integration and test campaigns, ensuring architecture and budgets close at system level
Working with IPT leads, own and manage system-level budgets across disciplines, including:
Mass properties and margins
Power generation, storage, and consumption
RF link budgets, including payload and feeder links
Propellant budget, based on ΔV inputs from Mission Analysis & Design
Reliability, availability, and FDIR approach
Collaborate with subsystem leads to ensure architectural consistency and technical closure
Act as a technical interface to program managers, product assurance, and external stakeholders
Provide mentorship and oversight to junior and intermediate engineers
Leverage AI-enabled tools, agents, and automation to improve SEA workflows, including spacecraft budget consistency checks, trade study support, documentation generation, assumptions tracking, review preparation, and knowledge management, while ensuring appropriate validation, traceability, and human review of outputs
Define and maintain standards, processes, and templates for spacecraft architecture and budget management
Review and approve SEA deliverables across programs, ensuring accuracy, rigor, and consistency
Build and maintain a knowledge base of tools, models, and lessons learned for system budgets and architecture trades
Mentor engineers in technical budget ownership and spacecraft-level integration practices
Ensure SEA practices are aligned with Kepler Engineering Design Standards (KEDS)
Support cross-project consistency in architecture analyses and technical documentation
Help define the long-term structure, capability needs, and growth path of the SEA team
Support hiring, onboarding, coaching, and development of SEA team members as the function expands
Functional Lead - Spacecraft Engineering and Analysis
Required Skills & Qualifications:
Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related field
7+ years of experience in spacecraft systems engineering with a strong focus on system architecture, technical budgets, and cross-disciplinary design trades
Proven expertise in conducting system-level trade studies and managing spacecraft budgets including mass, power, link, propellant, reliability/availability
Familiarity with mission analysis outputs, including ΔV budgets, coverage, orbital constraints, and how they drive spacecraft architecture
Experience developing and applying FDIR, FMECA, and reliability strategies at spacecraft or system level
Strong technical leadership and mentoring skills, with interest in growing a functional team and developing engineering talent
Ability to define repeatable processes, improve technical standards, and drive consistency across programs
Experience using AI-enabled tools, workflow automation, or agent-based systems to improve engineering productivity, technical documentation, analysis workflows, or knowledge management
Ability to identify high-value opportunities for automation or AI assistance within systems engineering workflows and translate them into practical, maintainable solutions
Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and communication abilities
Key Attributes:
Problem-Solving: Expert in spacecraft-level architecture, budget closure, and multidisciplinary design challenges
Leadership: Leads program-level design efforts while building SEA discipline standards, mentoring engineers, and supporting future team growth
Technical Expertise: Deep knowledge of system budgets, spacecraft architecture, reliability, FDIR, and system integration
Communication: Effective across technical teams, program leadership, product assurance, and external stakeholders
Strategic Impact: Ensures spacecraft architectures are robust, scalable, technically balanced, and aligned with program and mission objectives
Skills Required
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related field
- 7+ years of spacecraft systems engineering experience with emphasis on system architecture and technical budgets
- Proven experience conducting system-level trade studies and managing spacecraft budgets (mass, power, link, propellant, reliability/availability)
- Familiarity with mission analysis outputs including ΔV budgets, coverage, and orbital constraints
- Experience developing and applying FDIR and FMECA, and reliability strategies at spacecraft or system level
- Demonstrated technical leadership, mentorship, and ability to develop engineers and grow a functional team
- Ability to define repeatable processes, improve technical standards, and ensure cross-program consistency
- Experience using AI-enabled tools, workflow automation, or agent-based systems to improve engineering productivity and documentation
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills
- Experience leading integration and test campaigns and acting as technical interface to program managers and product assurance
What We Do
Kepler designs, builds, launches, and operates an advanced network of low earth orbit satellites with the ultimate goal of bringing internet to outer space. Today, Kepler serves the needs of earth by connecting machines all around the world using its satellites on orbit and other complementary networks. Through a host of compatible partner equipment we make it easy to use satellite communications in your solution and route data over the best networks.
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