{"id":2662470,"url":"https://alion.io/job/turion-space-program-chief-engineer","title":"Program Chief Engineer","company":{"id":179687,"name":"Turion Space","domain":"turionspace.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/turion-space","size_band":"51-200","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":null},"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":["Irvine, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":200000,"max":275000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":275000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":15,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Verification & Validation","optional":false},{"name":"Cameo Systems Modeler","optional":true},{"name":"GMAT","optional":true},{"name":"IBM DOORS","optional":true},{"name":"MATLAB","optional":true},{"name":"MBSE","optional":true},{"name":"Python","optional":true},{"name":"STK","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-15T22:37:01Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-15","last_verified_at":"2026-10-24T07:34:07Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":8,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":8},"description":"Turion is developing the critical infrastructure of the space economy. We're doing this by building vertically integrated hardware and software: DROID, our line of space vehicles, and Starfire, our software suite covering simulation, modeling, planning, and operations. We're a group of people who fell in love with the future sci-fi promised us, and we're building it into reality. We build hard things. We build them well. And we're just getting started.\nWe are seeking an exceptional Program Chief Engineer to act as technical lead for missions relying on highly maneuverable and agile small satellites, beginning with the GEO Space Domain Awareness mission set. This senior technical leadership role owns technical architecture and baseline across all facets of the mission. The Program Chief Engineer ensures that all aspects of the mission, from requirements decomposition and traceability to mission capability verification, are properly defined, progressed, and documented to meet both customer and mission success criteria.\nKey Responsibilities:\nProgram Chief Engineering Leadership\nServe as technical lead and authority for assigned programs, owning end-to-end satellite architecture and ensuring appropriate technical progress throughout the program lifecycle\n\nDrive resolution of complex cross-disciplinary technical issues, making authoritative architectural decisions that balance performance, cost, and schedule\n\nLead teams through all technical milestones including, SRR, PDR, CDR, TRR, and PSR, and post-launch operations\n\nInteract directly with customers and suppliers as the primary technical point of contact to ensure mission success\n\nMission Definition & Technical Baseline\nOwn and maintain system-level budgets ensuring the technical baseline demonstrably meets requirements and technical performance measures (mass, power, delta-V, pointing, data, link, MTF, etc.)\n\nWork alongside mission stakeholders to define and refine mission CONOPS, translating operational needs into rigorous system-level requirements\n\nLead derivation and maintenance of system requirements, ensuring full traceability from mission-level objectives through system, subsystem, and component requirements\n\nEnsure requirements decomposition is executed correctly and that traceability is maintained throughout the entire technical baseline\n\nRequirements Traceability & Compliance\nEstablish and maintain robust requirements traceability frameworks to satisfy customer compliance documentation expectations\n\nAuthor and oversee Interface Control Documents (ICDs) and all systems engineering documentation required for program compliance\n\nDefine and execute verification and validation plans (test, demonstration, analysis, inspection) at system and subsystem levels\n\nTrack system compliance and overall performance against mission needs, proactively identifying and resolving gaps\n\nStakeholder & Team Leadership\nProvide top-level technical leadership across the entire mission lifecycle, including space and ground segments, from proposal and concept through design, manufacturing, test, and operations\n\nCollaborate with and guide multi-disciplinary engineering experts across all subsystems\n\nWork with internal and external stakeholders to ensure mission CONOPS alignment and technical coherence\n\nMentor senior and mid-level systems engineers, elevating team-wide systems engineering discipline\n\nMinimum Qualifications\nBachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related field\n\n12+ years of experience in spacecraft systems engineering or spacecraft design, with hands-on experience in satellite design and integration, OR 8+ years of experience with direct experience in relevant mission areas.\n\nDemonstrated experience serving as a Chief Program Engineer or lead systems engineer on a complete spacecraft program\n\nDeep expertise in requirements derivation, decomposition, and traceability from mission level through subsystems\n\nProven ability to own and maintain all system-level budgets (mass, power, delta-V, pointing, link, data) across the full project lifecycle\n\nExperience authoring and managing compliance documentation and requirements traceability artifacts for customers\n\nStrong track record leading teams through formal technical milestones (SRR, PDR, CDR, TRR, etc.)\n\nMust be able to obtain a TS/SCI clearance\n\nPreferred Qualifications\nDeep technical experience with GEO Space Domain Awareness or other missions relying on highly maneuverable and agile spacecraft\n\nDeep technical experience in Electro-Optical payload design, integration, and testing\n\nExperience working with Department of War/Defense or Intelligence Community organizations\n\n15+ years of experience in spacecraft systems engineering or spacecraft design with full product lifecycle experience: concept, preliminary design, manufacturing, testing, and operations\n\nExperience as Program Chief Engineer or equivalent role with direct customer-facing technical accountability\n\nExperience with Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) and applicable software such as Cameo, Capella, Innoslate, or others\n\nExperience with satellite analysis tools such as Python, MATLAB, STK, GMAT, or FreeFlyer\n\nExperience with requirements management tools such as Jama, DOORS, Flow, or others\n\nFamiliarity with customer compliance frameworks and formal traceability documentation expectations (e.g., government or DoD programs)\n\nPrevious experience in a startup or fast-paced commercial space environment\n\nCurrent TS/SCI clearance\n\nProgram Chief Engineer Salary Range: $200,000 - $275,000 USD\nEmployees may be asked to support alternate shifts, extended shifts, and/or travel during peak work periods.\nITAR Requirements:\nThis position may include access to technology and/or software source code that is subject to U.S. export controls. To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.\nBenefits: \nWe offer a comprehensive compensation and benefits package designed to support the well-being and professional growth of our employees. In addition to a competitive base salary and company stock, determined by factors such as job-related knowledge, education, skills, experience, and market demand, full-time employees are eligible for:\nEquity: Receive equity in Turion Space, letting you benefit from the company's success\n\nHealth Insurance: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and their dependents.\n\nRetirement Plans: Access to a 401(k) plan with a 3% Employer Direct Contribution to help you plan for your future.\n\nPaid Time Off: Generous vacation days, personal days, sick days, and holidays to ensure you have time to recharge.\n\nParental Leave: Paid parental leave following the birth of a newborn or adoption.\n\nEmotional Wellbeing: A no-cost Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to support you and your household’s emotional health and wellbeing.\n\nProfessional Development: Opportunities for ongoing internal training, workshops, and courses to advance your skills and career growth.\n\nTeam Building Activities: Regular social events, team outings, and company-sponsored activities to foster a positive work environment.\n\nWe are dedicated to providing a supportive and enriching environment for our team members, recognizing that our collective success is built upon the well-being and satisfaction of each individual.\nTurion Space is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Turion Space is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.","description_format":"text","description_chars":8030,"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":true,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity","Generous vacation","Health insurance","Parental leave","Professional development","Retirement plans"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Satellite Manufacturing","Space Services"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-16T01:17:29Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":79,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.84,"p_room":0.945,"age_days":8,"expected_fill_days":20,"reasons":["conf:2","win:mid"],"computed_at":"2026-10-24T06:02:35Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":275000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/turion-space-program-chief-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/turion-space-program-chief-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-24T09:18:57Z","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":13443,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-25T00:00:00Z"}},"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":179687},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=179687"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fturion-space-program-chief-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%2Fturion-space-program-chief-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%2Fturion-space-program-chief-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/turion-space-program-chief-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fturion-space-program-chief-engineer"}]}