Program Chief Engineer

As the Program Chief Engineer, you are the senior technical authority for the spacecraft program and the single point of technical accountability for mission success. Reporting directly to the Senior Director of Satellite Systems, you provide technical leadership across all engineering disciplines to ensure the spacecraft is designed, built, verified, and operated as an integrated system. You establish the technical direction, drive engineering execution, make timely decisions, conduct rigorous technical reviews, and communicate effectively with engineering teams, executive leadership, customers, and suppliers.

The Chief Engineer is accountable for the overall technical success of the mission. You are responsible for maintaining technical integrity, driving engineering progress, ensuring design maturity, balancing performance, reliability, cost, schedule, manufacturability, and mission risk, and delivering flight-ready spacecraft that enable successful mission execution.

Key Responsibilities:

• Please note: Though this role provides a Hybrid flexibility, it will require an on-site work presence at Kepler's Toronto HQ

Technical Leadership:

• Provide technical leadership across Systems, Software, Electrical, Mechanical, RF, GNC, Payload, AIT, Manufacturing, Operations, and Product Assurance
• Drive engineering convergence toward a technically coherent spacecraft
• Ensure engineering activities remain aligned with mission objectives

Engineering Execution:

• Drive engineering progress and maintain technical momentum
• Identify and remove technical roadblocks
• Ensure timely technical decision-making and accountability across engineering disciplines

Design Reviews & Technical Oversight:

• Lead rigorous technical reviews across all spacecraft subsystems
• Challenge assumptions, analyses, margins, interfaces, and verification evidence
• Lead design reviews, anomaly reviews, and readiness reviews

Decision Making:

• Make timely, evidence-based technical decisions
• Balance performance, cost, schedule, manufacturability, reliability, and mission risk
• Remove technical barriers or blockers to maintain engineering momentum

Communication & Alignment:

• Communicate technical direction clearly and consistently across the engineering organization
• Translate complex technical issues into concise recommendations for executive leadership
• Represent Engineering during customer reviews, supplier meetings, executive briefings, and governance boards
• Ensure decisions, assumptions, risks, and actions are clearly documented and communicated
• Build alignment across Engineering, Program Management, Product Assurance, Manufacturing, Operations, and executive leadership

Engineering Excellence:

• Mentor senior engineers and future technical leaders
• Continuously raise the standard of technical rigor, engineering reviews, and engineering excellence
• Drive continuous improvement, platform standardization, and lessons learned

Required Skills & Qualifications:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in a relevant engineering discipline
• 15+ years of experience developing complex spacecraft or aerospace systems
• Experience serving as the technical authority or senior technical leader for at least one spacecraft development program
• Extensive knowledge of spacecraft architecture, integration, verification, manufacturing, qualification, launch, and mission operations
• Exceptional technical judgment, communication, stakeholder management, and leadership skills

Bonus Points:

• Chief Engineer, Deputy Chief Engineer, or equivalent technical leadership experience
• Constellation or multi-spacecraft program experience
• Experience across multiple spacecraft disciplines
• Mission assurance, Integration and test campaign, launch campaign, and on-orbit operations experience
• Experience driving engineering standardization and AI-enabled engineering workflows