Your space-enabled career begins here

Program Chief Engineer

LeoStella is a state-of-the-art small satellite design and manufacturing company based in the Seattle area. At LeoStella, we are redefining how high-quality satellite constellations are built at scale. Our focus is on developing and using intelligent and agile engineering and manufacturing processes to accelerate the development and production of small-sat constellations, all while lowering costs and increasing on-orbit capabilities.

The work we do at LeoStella is helping organizations and markets change the world by removing the barriers to building satellite constellations. This is an opportunity to join a collaborative, high performing team focused on changing the paradigm in satellite development and production!

Position Description:

As a Program Chief Engineer, you will make your greatest impact as a problem solver. Creating a detailed plan to turn a specification into a spacecraft on orbit is a challenge. Managing that plan through the twists and turns of a spacecraft development program requires a special ability to adapt, react, and find ways to get things done. You will be the technical leader and primary customer technical point of contact for spacecraft development and production programs, leveraging advanced understanding of spacecraft design, analysis, and test practices. You will provide critical technical leadership via effective planning, communication, decision making, and technical issue resolution. You will work closely with program management to understand customer needs, establish a technical approach, and lead a multi-disciplinary engineering team to implement and deliver space hardware systems.

Primary Responsibilities: 

• Lead a multi-disciplinary engineering team through the full spacecraft development, build, and test cycle
• Serve as primary technical point of contact for customers; manage and track customer spec changes and respond to technical requests.
• Enforce appropriate technical rigor and due diligence that supports meeting customer commitments.
• Apply nuanced understanding of technical and program dynamics to make informed risk decisions.
• Manage technical baseline via sound change management principles as it evolves to guarantee alignment across subsystems, components, and interfaces and between organizations.
• Coordinate efforts and tasks with internal team to ensure on-time delivery and drive consistency between technical performance, cost, schedule, and risk posture.
• Apply understanding of spacecraft development to identify risks and opportunities; develop and implement plans to mitigate the risks and to realize opportunities.
• Create, review, and maintain systems documentation such as technical budgets, analyses, CONOPs documents, and specifications.
• Lead development teams through complex technical issue resolution efforts.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor of Science in Engineering
• 10+ years of experience in engineering of complex system development and production including 5+ years of experience with spacecraft development and production.
• Past technical leadership experience on a spacecraft or subsystem, with hardware in-orbit
• Deep knowledge of spacecraft systems and subsystems along with their interfaces and dependencies
• Experience with several of the following: CONOPS development, spacecraft functional analyses, requirements decomposition and definition, modeling and simulation, trade studies, risk management, reliability engineering, orbital mechanics, launch and space environments, fault tolerant systems, spacecraft assembly and test, and technical budget management
• Demonstrated examples of effective technical issue/anomaly investigation and resolution
• Strong communication skills that are effective in managing and informing engineers, company leadership, and customers
• Must be a U.S. Citizen

Desired Qualifications:

• Master of Science in Engineering
• Experience in all phases of system/subsystem development, from initial concept definition through on-orbit operation
• Proficient with modeling tools and scripting languages such as Matlab/Simulink, Python, or STK

Compensation & Benefits:

• Compensation range is $160-200K + 10+% target bonus
  • Your actual level and base salary will be determined on a case by case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: job-related knowledge and skills, education, and experience.
  • Base salary is one part of your total rewards package - you may also be eligible for up to 10+% potential bonuses. Additional employee benefits are detailed below as well.
• Employee Benefits include:
  • Employer-paid Medical, Dental, Vision, basic and supplemental life insurance, short and long-term disability.
  • 401(k) with up to 3% company match
  • Paid parental leave and maternity-disability leave
• Paid Time Off and Flexible Schedule: You may accrue 4 weeks paid time off per year, in addition to 8 company holidays.  You may also have the choice to take Flexible Friday off every other week.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. EEO is the Law Poster. 

LeoStella participates in E-Verify. See Link for details.  See also Right to Work Statement in English and Spanish.