Senior Flight Safety Engineer, Mission Assurance

Varda Space Industries • El Segundo, CA

9h • Onsite

About The Position

Varda is seeking a Senior Flight Safety Engineer to serve as the primary architect for mission safety and reentry compliance. Joining our Mission Assurance team, you will lead the development of the Flight Safety Analysis and the regulatory strategy required for FAA Part 450 and Range Safety licensing. This is a highly cross-functional role that bridges the gap between complex engineering trades and regulatory approval. From defining safety-critical verification artifacts during design to supporting live on-console operations, you will ensure our flight hardware is verified and our reentry methodologies are mathematically sound.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in aerospace, mechanical, electrical, manufacturing, systems engineering or related field.
• Minimum 5 years of relevant aerospace engineering experience, with a previous role involving mission assurance, fight safety, or a senior systems engineering role.
• Demonstrated experience with FAA Part 450, expected casualty modeling, trajectory dispersion, and/or debris analysis.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to influence cross-functional teams and present to executives/customers/regulators.
• Strong experience with risk management methodologies and tools (FMEA, FHA, Fault Tree Analysis).
• Experience with integration of interdisciplinary systems in the aerospace industry.

Nice To Haves

• Demonstrated safety critical mission operations in aviation or space applications.
• Proven experience navigating the FCC Part 25 (Commercial) or Part 5 (Experimental) licensing process, for satellite and reentry communications.
• Dedicated to adopting a lean approach to quality without compromising safety or reliability.

Responsibilities

• Own the technical regulatory strategy, Means of Compliance, and safety cases for FAA launch and reentry authorizations.
• Own vehicle-level functional hazard analyses (FHA) and failure mode and effect analyses (FMEA).
• Maintain Expected Casualty and debris risk models to ensure all mission phases meet regulatory safety thresholds.
• Establish technical safety limits and mission rules for real-time on-console operations.
• Responsible for vehicle-level deliverables to regulatory organizations, in the service of mission reentry licenses and authorizations.
• Act as the Flight Safety responsible engineer during mission rehearsals and live recovery operations.

Benefits

• Exciting team of professionals at the top of their field working by your side
• Equity in a fully funded space startup with potential for significant growth (interns excluded)
• 401(k) matching (interns excluded)
• Unlimited PTO (interns excluded)
• Health insurance, including Vision and Dental
• Lunch and snacks provided on site every day. Dinners provided twice a week.
• Maternity / Paternity leave (interns excluded)

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Number of Employees: 11-50 employees