{"id":322690,"url":"https://alion.io/job/kepler-program-chief-engineer-2","title":"Program Chief Engineer","company":{"id":1935104,"name":"Kepler","domain":"kepler.space","url":"https://alion.io/company/kepler-space","size_band":null,"is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Lever","truth_index":{"grade":"A","score":95,"open_postings":18,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":76,"computed_at":"2026-10-20T05:45:00Z"}},"role":"Industrial Engineering","role_family":"Industrial Engineering","seniority":"head","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Toronto, Canada"],"countries":["CA"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":73000,"max_usd":150000,"period":"year","method":"role_seniority_country_remote_cell","sample_n":15},"experience_years_min":15,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-08-14T14:07:26Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-08-14","last_verified_at":"2026-10-20T15:54:36Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":67,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":0,"flags":["company_stale"],"days_open":66},"description":"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.\nThe 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.\nKey Responsibilities:\nPlease note: Though this role provides a Hybrid flexibility, it will require an on-site work presence at Kepler's Toronto HQ\nTechnical Leadership:\nProvide technical leadership across Systems, Software, Electrical, Mechanical, RF, GNC, Payload, AIT, Manufacturing, Operations, and Product Assurance\nDrive engineering convergence toward a technically coherent spacecraft\nEnsure engineering activities remain aligned with mission objectives\nEngineering Execution:\nDrive engineering progress and maintain technical momentum\nIdentify and remove technical roadblocks\nEnsure timely technical decision-making and accountability across engineering disciplines\nDesign Reviews & Technical Oversight:\nLead rigorous technical reviews across all spacecraft subsystems\nChallenge assumptions, analyses, margins, interfaces, and verification evidence\nLead design reviews, anomaly reviews, and readiness reviews\nDecision Making:\nMake timely, evidence-based technical decisions\nBalance performance, cost, schedule, manufacturability, reliability, and mission risk\nRemove technical barriers or blockers to maintain engineering momentum\nCommunication & Alignment:\nCommunicate technical direction clearly and consistently across the engineering organization\nTranslate complex technical issues into concise recommendations for executive leadership\nRepresent Engineering during customer reviews, supplier meetings, executive briefings, and governance boards\nEnsure decisions, assumptions, risks, and actions are clearly documented and communicated\nBuild alignment across Engineering, Program Management, Product Assurance, Manufacturing, Operations, and executive leadership\nEngineering Excellence:\nMentor senior engineers and future technical leaders\nContinuously raise the standard of technical rigor, engineering reviews, and engineering excellence\nDrive continuous improvement, platform standardization, and lessons learned\nRequired Skills & Qualifications:\nBachelor's or Master's degree in a relevant engineering discipline\n15+ years of experience developing complex spacecraft or aerospace systems\nExperience serving as the technical authority or senior technical leader for at least one spacecraft development program\nExtensive knowledge of spacecraft architecture, integration, verification, manufacturing, qualification, launch, and mission operations\nExceptional technical judgment, communication, stakeholder management, and leadership skills\nBonus Points:\nChief Engineer, Deputy Chief Engineer, or equivalent technical leadership experience\nConstellation or multi-spacecraft program experience\nExperience across multiple spacecraft disciplines\nMission assurance, Integration and test campaign, launch campaign, and on-orbit operations experience\nExperience driving engineering standardization and AI-enabled engineering workflows","description_format":"text","description_chars":3825,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":15,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Satellite Communications","Satellite Manufacturing"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-05T16:40:50Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":47,"band":"ok","label":"Likely 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