Full-Time

Sr. Systems Engineer

Mission Analyst

Posted on 9/9/2024

Sierra Space

Sierra Space

1,001-5,000 employees

Develops space vehicles and stations

Compensation Overview

$120.6k - $165.8kAnnually

Senior

No H1B Sponsorship

Centennial, CO, USA + 1 more

More locations: Lafayette, CO, USA

Work locations are Centennial, Colorado and Louisville, Colorado.

US Top Secret Clearance Required

Category
Space & Rocket Engineering
Aerospace Engineering
Requirements
  • Bachelor's of Science degree in System Engineering or related discipline and typically 10 or more years of relevant experience
  • Demonstrated knowledge of engineering principles and practices
  • Experience working in multi-disciplinary design and development teams
  • Thorough understanding of requirements management, functional requirements parsing, derivation, and allocation; systems design, systems integration, technical risk identification and management strategies, and Verification and Validation (V&V) principles
  • An active Top Secret with SCI eligibility U.S. Security Clearance is required
Responsibilities
  • Deriving Ground Segment requirements and interfaces, developing segment CONOPS, performing technical trades, leading segment-level technical design efforts, and delivering an effective Ground Segment.
  • Communication of Ground Segment technical products to peers, leadership and customers in electronic, presented and documented forms.
  • Drafting supplier SOWs, specifications and managing suppliers in concert with the supply chain management team as required.
  • Integration of ground software and hardware into SoftSat and FlatSat environments.
  • Leading ground segment V&V activities.

Sierra Space develops solutions for space exploration and development, focusing on aerospace and defense. The company creates advanced space vehicles, including the Dream Chaser spaceplane, which can land on conventional runways, making it suitable for transporting cargo and crew to and from space. Sierra Space is also working on space stations designed for long-duration human spaceflight and scientific research. Their technology includes life support systems and propulsion technologies like the VORTEX engines, which are vital for safe and sustainable space missions. Unlike many competitors, Sierra Space emphasizes versatility in its space vehicles and aims to support both government and commercial space activities. The company's goal is to enhance life on Earth and shape the future of humanity through space exploration.

Company Size

1,001-5,000

Company Stage

Series B

Total Funding

$1.7B

Headquarters

Louisville, Colorado

Founded

2021

Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Growing space tourism interest boosts demand for Sierra Space's commercial travel solutions.
  • Rising demand for small satellite launches benefits Sierra Space's cost-effective spaceplane technology.
  • U.S. government investment in space defense supports Sierra Space's GPS satellite program.

What critics are saying

  • CEO Tom Vice's resignation may impact Sierra Space's strategic direction.
  • Legal challenges from an Arizona company could lead to financial and reputational issues.
  • Delays in the Artemis program may affect Sierra Space's lunar mission contracts.

What makes Sierra Space unique

  • Sierra Space's Dream Chaser can land on conventional runways, enhancing versatility.
  • The company is developing advanced life support and propulsion technologies like VORTEX engines.
  • Sierra Space collaborates with NVIDIA for space debris prediction, showcasing tech integration.

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Benefits

Health Insurance

Dental Insurance

Vision Insurance

Life Insurance

401(k) Retirement Plan

401(k) Company Match

Paid Vacation

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

0%

1 year growth

1%

2 year growth

3%
Securities.io
Feb 28th, 2025
Lunar Gateway: Building The First Step To The Stars

The Next Space StationIn the history of space exploration, space stations have been an important milestone, as they allowed space agencies to develop and test countless systems required for long-term presence in space. They also gave us insight into the effect of weightlessness on the human body and provided a safe structure from which to perform many scientific experiments.With the ISS expected to begin de-orbiting in a few years, it might seem that the more recent Chinese space station Tiangong, now opening for non-Chinese astronauts , most likely first to Russian astronauts, will be the largest inhabited structure in space for the foreseeable future.China plans to double the station from 3 to 6 modules in the coming years. This would bring its mass to 180 metric tons, or just 40% of the ISS's 450 tons.But this is incorrect, as a much more ambitious project than the ISS is being built: the Lunar Gateway.Lunar Gateway is a keystone of the Artemis program, a series of deep space missions looking to bring back Western astronauts to the Moon. You can read an overview of the Artemis missions and the rationale behind them in “ The Artemis Mission: Fly Me To The Moon (Again) ”.The Lunar Gateway will eventually become an anchor point for future Artemis Moon landings and associated missions. It will also be the first deep space station, orbiting another celestial body than Earth, being located as far as ~350,000 km from Earth (210,000 miles), while the ISS was orbiting just 400km above us (250 miles).Why Build The Lunar Gateway?Fitting In Artemis DesignThe Artemis missions aim for long-duration stays on the Moon lasting days and weeks, and eventually, a permanent settlement of the place.You can read a detailed account of the Artemis program in the dedicated report we published recently.This means that a lot of material, spare parts, resupply, personnel, and potential help needs to be located in the immediate vicinity of the lunar missions, not a minimum of several days away, even when assuming a rocket is ready to launch immediately. This is why the Artemis mission IV will be, in large part, dedicated to building the Lunar Gateway, a space station orbiting the Moon.The exact date of Artemis IV is unclear, as the program has suffered repeated delays

The Industrial
Jan 16th, 2025
Sierra Space's Resilient GPS Satellite Program Reaches Key Milestone

Sierra Space announced in September a "Quick Start" R-GPS contract awarded by the U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command to produce design concepts for smaller, more cost-effective GPS satellites.

BizWest
Jan 8th, 2025
Arizona space component company sues Sierra Space over contract

An Arizona space payload-building company is suing Broomfield-based Sierra Space Corp. for fraud and breach of contract after the companies parted ways in the middle of a multi-million government job.

Tech Startups
Jan 6th, 2025
Sierra Space CEO Tom Vice steps down amid challenges as $5 billion startup struggles to launch space plane

"After three and half years in the role, Tom Vice has retired as Sierra Space CEO as of the end of 2024 - we thank him for his leadership and wish him well in his retirement," a Sierra Space spokesperson said in a statement.

BizWest
Dec 17th, 2024
Sierra Space harnesses NVIDIA tech to predict behavior of space debris

Sierra Space Corp. has teamed up with tech giant NVIDIA Corp to develop a system for predicting future locations of space debris.

INACTIVE