Principal Payload Engineer

Antares•Los Angeles, CA

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

As a key member of the Mission Engineering team, you will lead the development of novel effectors, sensors, and instruments needed to unleash nuclear-enabled missions in all domains. You will serve as a primary technical point of contact for customers and stakeholders during the mission development phase of projects, driving the development mission concepts that are grounded by our ability to project payload performance. You will lead trade-off decisions on which payload projects to pursue, as well as “make v. buy” decisions for integrating technologies. Finally, you will be responsible for executing technical projects to develop payloads, with the ultimate goal of building teams to carry out the development of these products to take to market. You understand everything from how on-orbit nuclear detection is achieved, to bespoke mechanisms for space control. You will operate at the intersection of engineering, product development, customer program engagement, and mission integration, owning how the complete product is applied to real-world missions from concept through end of life. You need to have strong engineering and physics fundamentals – particularly in particle physics, optics, condensed matter physics (materials interactions), remote sensing, thermodynamics, heat transfer, fluid mechanics, energy and power systems, and engineering economics – with demonstrated ability to reason from first principles, develop quantitative models to simulate payload (and thus mission) performance, and maintain high technical rigor across disciplines. You will own product integration into operational end-user environments. The ideal candidate is a technical expert who understands space-domain awareness and space control concepts, yet is able to flex a generalist skillset, comfortably moving between various relevant payload technologies, engineering disciplines, hands-on analysis, hardware, program execution, and customer-facing work. They can rapidly develop depth in unfamiliar areas, communicate effectively across engineering teams, and drive ambiguous problems to closure. Experience with DOW, DOE, IC, NASA, or other government sponsors and procurement processes is preferred.

Requirements

PhD or Master’s in an engineering discipline or physics
10+ years of technical experience, 5+ years of leadership experience on a project or research team
Experience working with the Department of Defense (DOW), Department of Energy (DOE), and Intelligence Community
Knowledge of space operations, payload concepts, and physics behind relevant sensing mechanisms

Nice To Haves

Strong interpersonal and collaborative skills, enthusiasm for problem-solving, and desire to build
Excellent written, visual, and verbal communication skills
Excellent negotiation, conflict resolution, and leadership skills
Experience working in a start-up environment
Demonstrated track record of success in DOW or DOE Research and Development efforts as a Principal Investigator
Ability to obtain a Top Secret or Top Secret SCI clearance
Demonstrated track record of high impact / ROI contributions

Responsibilities

Lead all aspects of technical product development associated with Antares payloads. Everything from initial ideation and conceptual design to prototyping efforts in the laboratory.
Regularly build simulation tools and models to develop payload concepts and work directly with Mission Architect on integrating into holistic mission concepts with nuclear and non-nuclear space vehicles.
Ideate and propose new development programs to DOW, NASA, IC and DOE funding sources
Perform market research on possible use cases and operational concepts for future Antares payload systems
Build out robust processes around licensing technologies from USG and National Laboratory ecosystems, including internal investment theses on payload concepts to pursue
Collaborate with engineering teams to ensure end-to-end mission success and craft deliverables for customer programs
Plan and drive internal and external reviews to ensure alignment between Antares engineering teams and external stakeholders