Space Systems Engineer

Own the interfaces. Make the whole vehicle work. Typical journey: 5–9 years experience, Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace, Mechanical or Electrical Engineering. Salary range (USD): $95K–$220K. Space Systems Engineering is the integrating discipline — you own the requirements, interfaces, and verification strategy that bind propulsion, avionics, thermal, structures, GNC, and flight software into a single working vehicle. At NASA and ESA you spend years in requirements management tools (DOORS, Jama) and interface control documents; at commercial launch companies the pace is faster and your scope can span hardware and software in the same week. Reality Check: Good Fit You enjoy finding the gap between two subsystem assumptions more than optimising any single subsystem. You can write a clear requirement (verifiable, unambiguous, necessary) and explain why each word matters. You are comfortable being the person in the room who says “this interface isn't closed” even when it delays a milestone. Reality Check: Bad Fit You want to own deep technical design in one discipline (propulsion, software, structures) — systems engineering is breadth, not depth. You dislike documentation; the job is 40–60% writing requirements, ICDs, and verification reports. You expect rapid iteration — at heritage‑minded primes, a single ICD change can take 6 months through a formal change board. Responsibilities Holding the technical baseline against constant schedule pressure. Every subsystem team will argue their interface requirement is too tight; your job is to say no with math, not opinion. The hardest part is late‑breaking requirement changes at CDR+6 months — tracing the ripple through 400 ICDs while everyone else has moved on. Required Skills MBSE with SysML (Cameo Systems Modeler / MagicDraw) Requirements management in IBM DOORS or Jama Connect Interface Control Document (ICD) authoring and change control Mass, power, and link budget roll‑up in Excel/MATLAB Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) per MIL‑STD‑1629A Salary at a glance Entry level (0–3 yrs): $95K Mid‑career (4–8 yrs): $150K Senior (9+ yrs): $220K #J-18808-Ljbffr Spaceodysseyhub