{"id":3206727,"url":"https://alion.io/job/pillar-space-systems-founding-lead-systems-engineer","title":"Founding Lead Systems Engineer","company":{"id":4398852,"name":"Pillar Space Systems","domain":"pillarspace.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/pillar-space-systems","size_band":null,"is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":75,"open_postings":4,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":1,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":null,"computed_at":"2026-10-27T05:46:45Z"}},"role":"Hardware","role_family":"Hardware","seniority":"lead","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"hybrid","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Los Angeles, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":185000,"max":275000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":275000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":8,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Cameo Systems Modeler","optional":false},{"name":"FMEA","optional":false},{"name":"GMAT","optional":false},{"name":"IBM DOORS","optional":false},{"name":"MATLAB","optional":false},{"name":"MIL-STD-882","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"STK","optional":false},{"name":"SysML","optional":false},{"name":"Verification & Validation","optional":false},{"name":"Orekit","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-12T21:49:25Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-12","last_verified_at":"2026-10-27T06:10:25Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":14,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":14},"description":"Founding Lead Systems Engineer\nEquity: 0.3% - 1% depending on experience\nAbout Us\nWe're a stealth team building space hardware at the edge of what's currently possible - high-stakes, flight-grade systems where the engineering bar is unforgiving and the upside is enormous. While we can't share full details yet, our founding and early engineering team includes talent from SpaceX, Northrop Grumman, and Impulse Space, the group includes people who've pulled off feats almost no one else on Earth has.\nRole Overview\nWe are seeking a Lead Systems Engineer to own the technical baseline of our spacecraft from first principles - the requirements, architecture, interfaces, and margins that make every subsystem add up to a vehicle that works.\nThis is a senior technical leadership role. You will not only define and execute the vehicle and mission architecture, but also help build the systems engineering team, set technical standards, mentor engineers, and establish the systems, processes, and culture required to develop flight-grade spacecraft - rigorous enough to fly, lean enough for a startup.\nThis is not a narrow requirements-management role. You will own the full system: mission design and concept of operations, requirements flowdown and traceability, interface control, mass, power, propellant, and link budgets, fault management concepts, and the verification strategy that proves the vehicle is ready to fly. You will partner closely with every subsystem lead, with our launch provider, and with customers, and make the system-level trades across performance, schedule, cost, reliability, and mission risk that no single discipline can make alone.\nThe ideal candidate has direct experience with spacecraft systems engineering, mission design, verification and validation, and technical team leadership. We recognize that very few people have all of this. What matters most is that you have exceptional fundamentals, have led real systems from concept toward flight, have managed or mentored engineers in high-performance technical environments, and can operate independently in ambiguity while making sound engineering tradeoffs. You will have direct ownership over one of the company's core technical challenges.\nKey Responsibilities\nOwn the vehicle and mission architecture, from concept definition through design, integration, test, qualification, and flight operations.\n\nDefine the mission and concept of operations with the founders and customers: mission phases, orbits and trajectories, operating modes, and interactions with the ground segment.\n\nOwn requirements: derive and flow them down from mission to vehicle, subsystem, and component levels, and maintain traceability through verification.\n\nOwn technical budgets and the margin policy: mass, power and energy, delta-v and propellant, pointing, link, data, thermal, and timing.\n\nDefine and control interfaces between subsystems and with the launch vehicle, ground segment, payloads, and customers through interface control documents.\n\nLead system-level trade studies - architecture, redundancy, orbit and mission design, build-vs-buy - with quantitative criteria and clear decisions.\n\nDefine vehicle operating modes, mode transitions, and the fault management concept with flight software, GNC, and mission operations.\n\nOwn the verification and validation strategy: the verification matrix, method selection (test, analysis, inspection, demonstration), and verification closure for flight readiness.\n\nLead reliability and mission assurance analyses: FMEA/FMECA, fault trees, hazard analysis, single-point-failure assessment, and reliability modeling.\n\nDefine the design environments - launch loads, thermal, radiation, and on-orbit - and allocate them to subsystems with structures, thermal, and avionics.\n\nLead the launch vehicle interface: payload user guide compliance, coupled loads analysis coordination, separation, mission integration documentation, and range safety deliverables.\n\nLead orbital debris mitigation, disposal planning, and conjunction assessment, and support spectrum, remote sensing, and launch licensing with regulators as the mission requires.\n\nBuild system-level models and simulations of mission performance and operations, using model-based systems engineering where it earns its keep.\n\nRun the technical review cycle and configuration control: requirements, design, test readiness, pre-ship, and flight readiness reviews, and the change control board.\n\nOwn the technical risk register: identify, rank, and burn down risks with the subsystem leads.\n\nPartner with integration and test on test planning and anomaly resolution, and with operations on launch and early orbit planning and on-orbit anomaly response.\n\nProvide technical leadership across systems engineering, mission design, reliability, and mission assurance efforts.\n\nHelp hire, manage, mentor, and develop systems engineers as the team grows.\n\nEstablish systems engineering processes: requirements management, interface control, configuration management, review gates, and margin tracking appropriate for flight-grade systems - without slowing the team down.\n\nHelp define the technical roadmap, integrated schedule, and resource plan for the vehicle and future missions.\n\nWork closely with avionics, flight software, GNC, power, propulsion, RF, thermal, mechanical, test, supply chain, ground software, and mission operations to close interfaces and field an integrated flight system.\n\nWork closely with the founders and early engineering team to shape the technical roadmap, engineering culture, hiring plan, and long-term product and systems strategy.\n\nRepresent the systems function in cross-disciplinary design reviews, customer conversations, investor diligence, regulatory and launch provider discussions, and mission planning as needed.\n\nBasic Qualifications\nBachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Physics, or a related technical discipline.\n\n8+ years in systems or subsystem engineering for spacecraft, launch vehicles, aircraft, or other high-reliability systems.\n\nPrior experience leading technical workstreams, managing engineers, mentoring junior and mid-level engineers, or building high-performing engineering teams.\n\nDemonstrated ability to own a complex system's technical baseline from concept through integration, test, and operational readiness.\n\nStrong fundamentals across spacecraft disciplines - orbital mechanics, GNC, power, propulsion, thermal, structures, avionics, software, and communications - with depth in at least one and fluency in all.\n\nExperience writing, decomposing, and verifying requirements, and maintaining traceability from mission to component.\n\nExperience defining and controlling interfaces across disciplines and organizations.\n\nExperience building and managing technical budgets and margins through a design's life cycle.\n\nExperience leading trade studies backed by quantitative analysis (e.g., Python, MATLAB, STK, GMAT).\n\nExperience with reliability and fault analysis: FMEA, fault trees, and hazard analysis.\n\nExperience taking a system through integration and test, including verification closure and anomaly resolution.\n\nStrong written and verbal communication, with the ability to write clear specifications and present to engineers, customers, and investors.\n\nAbility to work independently with limited direction, identify the right next problem to solve, and drive technical work from ambiguity to a flight-ready vehicle.\n\nAbility to make practical system-level tradeoffs across performance, schedule, cost, reliability, testability, and mission risk.\n\nAbility to lead through influence in a cross-functional environment spanning every engineering discipline, operations, and customers.\n\nHighly Valuable Experience\nWe do not expect every candidate to have all of the following. The strongest candidates will likely have depth in some areas and the ability to quickly learn the others.\nDemonstrated flight heritage - vehicle-level systems engineering on a spacecraft that has flown and operated on orbit.\n\nExperience leading systems engineering, mission design, or mission assurance teams.\n\nExperience managing engineers in a startup, aerospace company, defense contractor, launch company, or other high-reliability technical environment.\n\nExperience as a responsible engineer for a flight subsystem (e.g., GNC, propulsion, power, avionics) before moving into systems.\n\nExperience with mission design and astrodynamics tools (e.g., STK, GMAT, FreeFlyer, Orekit).\n\nExperience with model-based systems engineering and requirements tools (e.g., Cameo/SysML, Capella, Jama, DOORS), applied pragmatically.\n\nExperience with launch vehicle integration: payload user guides, ICDs, coupled loads analysis, and mission integration on rideshare or dedicated launches.\n\nExperience designing fault management and FDIR concepts with flight software and operations.\n\nExperience with space environments: radiation, thermal, micrometeoroids and orbital debris, and atomic oxygen.\n\nExperience with orbital debris mitigation, conjunction assessment, and regulatory licensing (e.g., FCC, NOAA, FAA payload review).\n\nExperience with systems engineering and safety standards (e.g., NASA NPR 7123.1, MIL-STD-882, AIAA S-120), and knowing when to tailor them.\n\nExperience with probabilistic risk assessment and reliability modeling.\n\nExperience supporting government or commercial customers through technical reviews and requirements negotiation.\n\nExperience with mission operations: CONOPS development, operations readiness, launch and early orbit operations, and anomaly response.\n\nExperience with digital engineering, simulation, and model-based verification.\n\nExperience in early-stage startups, small high-performing teams, or environments where engineers must own broad technical scope.\n\nExperience recruiting, interviewing, closing, and onboarding exceptional technical talent.\n\nWho You Are\nYou are an exceptional systems engineer with strong fundamentals and the ability to reason from first principles.\n\nYou are a technical leader who raises the bar for the people around you.\n\nYou have managed, mentored, or led engineers before and know how to create clarity, accountability, and momentum in ambiguous environments.\n\nYou are comfortable owning large, ambiguous, mission-critical problems without waiting for detailed direction.\n\nYou can move fluidly between mission design, requirements, analysis, the bench, integration, test, team leadership, and system-level tradeoffs.\n\nYou see the whole vehicle: you know where the margins are, which interfaces are fragile, and which problems will bite later.\n\nYou are not interested in systems engineering as paperwork; you want to make the hard calls that make the whole vehicle work, and see it fly.\n\nYou are excited by flight-grade systems that have to work the first time and keep working when things go wrong.\n\nYou are willing to learn unfamiliar domains quickly and deeply, whether that means avionics, propulsion, GNC, RF, thermal, structures, flight software, regulation, or flight operations.\n\nYou have strong opinions loosely held. You can defend a technical position, accept feedback, change course when the system demands it, and make appropriate tradeoffs in support of the mission.\n\nYou are collaborative, low-ego, and rigorous.\n\nYou want founding-level ownership and are motivated by building a company, not just completing assigned tasks.\n\nYou are excited to help build not only the product, but also the engineering organization behind it.\n\nBenefits\nHealth Insurance - We cover the full base premium for Blue Shield's Bronze plan. If you would like more coverage, you can upgrade to the Gold plan and cover the difference in premium. You are also welcome to add dependents and a spouse to your plan.\n\nDental & Vision - We cover the base premiums for both dental and vision through Guardian. Coverage for dependents and a spouse is available as well.\n\n401(k) - We...","description_format":"text","description_chars":13177,"description_truncated":true,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":8,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":true,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity","Health insurance","Unlimited PTO"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Launch Services"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-24T13:26:12Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":83,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.874,"p_room":0.945,"age_days":14,"expected_fill_days":27,"reasons":["conf:3","velocity","win:mid"],"computed_at":"2026-10-27T05:46:45Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":275000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/pillar-space-systems-founding-lead-systems-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/pillar-space-systems-founding-lead-systems-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-27T09:12:53Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":10188,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-28T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":4398852},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=4398852"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fpillar-space-systems-founding-lead-systems-engineer"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fpillar-space-systems-founding-lead-systems-engineer"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fpillar-space-systems-founding-lead-systems-engineer"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/pillar-space-systems-founding-lead-systems-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fpillar-space-systems-founding-lead-systems-engineer"}]}