Satellite Flight Software Systems Engineer

SSI is seeking a Satellite Flight Software Systems Engineer to fill a Systems Engineering and Technical Assistance (SETA) position supporting our customer in Chantilly, VA.

In this role, you will oversee the design, development, integration, and testing of flight software systems (bus and payloads) across individual spacecraft vendors.

You will work side-by-side with spacecraft vendors to guide development processes, evaluate verification evidence, and resolve flight software concerns. You will leverage domain knowledge in satellite systems and space hardware while receiving direct mentorship from experienced senior spacecraft and flight software SMEs across our customers enterprise engineering teams.

Role and Responsibilities include:

• Oversee the development of spacecraft vendor flight software systems across bus subsystems, payload interfaces, and ground segment overlaps.
• Work side-by-side with spacecraft vendors, as required, to aid in their development processes and resolve flight software concerns.
• Participate in vendor Agile software development cycles, sprint planning, and reviews to track development milestones and maintain schedule alignment.
• Create, review, and evaluate software use cases, system-level requirements, and operational concepts using systems engineering best practices.
• Evaluate verification evidence provided by spacecraft vendors for compliance with requirements. Assist test teams to ensure flight software systems are thoroughly tested.
• Deliver clear reports, technical evaluations, and risk assessments regarding spacecraft vendor progress to leadership.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Physics,or a closely related STEM field from an accredited university.
• Strong background in aerospace engineering and spacecraft systems with a minimum of 7 years of experience.
• Solid domain knowledge of satellite software systems and operations (e.g., Guidance,Navigation & Control [GNC], networking, power management, command and data handling, and flight computers).
• Expertise in software operating on space vehicles and associated flight hardware.
• Experience working in Agile development environments, creating software use cases, and writing/executing flight software test plans.
• Demonstrated ability to rapidly come up to speed on complex software and requirements, backed by strong leadership and technical communication skills.
• Experience working within DoD or Intelligence Community (IC) programs.
• Active TS/SCI security clearance.

Desired Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Physics, or a related field.
• Ten (10) years of DoD/IC or relevant industry hands-on work experience with commercial and/or Government satellite systems.
• Hands-on software development experience in a modern programming language (e.g.,C, C++, Python).
• Experience with a cloud development environment.
• Familiarity with cybersecurity requirements and Risk Management Framework (RMF) practices for space vehicles.