VP of Engineering & Lead Engineer

EnduroSat•Los Angeles, CA

20d•$170,000 - $220,000•Onsite

About The Position

EnduroSat is hiring a VP of Engineering & Chief Engineer to own final technical delivery for EnduroSat US programs and lead the engineering organization. The role has final technical authority over US programs, including system architecture, technical decisions, and accountability for whether designs work. The engineering organization includes systems engineering, mechanical, structural and FEA, thermal, software, and other disciplines. The focus is adapting EnduroSat’s common satellite platform to customer missions through integration and mission-specific design. The role assesses whether the existing system can meet mission needs, determines where changes are required, and develops new capabilities where needed, while accounting for existing platform, schedule, and supply-chain constraints. The role regularly engages with customer engineering teams, shapes mission concepts during capture, defends architectures at PDR and CDR, and guides requirements toward achievable mission outcomes. The VP of Engineering & Chief Engineer works as a peer to the VP of Mission & Programs, who owns delivery and program relationships. This role owns what is built and whether it will work, and collaborates closely with European technology leadership to align US and European engineering standards, architecture, and interfaces. The position reports to C-level management and is based in the Los Angeles area. It is primarily on-site, with travel to customers and EnduroSat’s European headquarters. The role includes setting technical standards across disciplines; owning systems engineering, technical risk, and the technical side of program milestones; leading payload integration and customer technical discussions; assessing feasibility and developing reusable capabilities; and growing the US engineering organization. The VP will build systems engineering capacity first, develop teams and leaders, establish engineering infrastructure appropriate to a growing team, and partner with the VP of Mission & Programs on engineering resourcing.

Requirements

MSc or PhD in Aerospace Engineering, or a BSc with equivalent depth demonstrated over a long career.
12+ years of experience in spacecraft design and development, including 5+ years leading engineering teams.
Deep, current technical expertise; experience as a lead systems engineer, chief engineer, or subsystem lead on flight programs, with the ability to conduct trades, review analyses, and identify errors in margin calculations.
Ownership of a satellite system design through at least one complete development cycle, with the satellite having flown.
Working knowledge of structures and FEA, thermal, power, ADCS, C&DH, communications, and flight software, with genuine expertise in at least one discipline.
Experience adapting a spacecraft platform to a customer payload and owning its interfaces, analysis, and outcome.
Demonstrated technical judgment designing within an existing platform, schedule, and supply chain rather than from a blank page.
Customer-facing technical experience presenting and defending architectures to sophisticated customer engineering teams and negotiating requirements.
Proven experience hiring and building an engineering team, including the ability to identify people recruited into the team.
Excellent written and verbal communication, including the ability to explain technical decisions to engineers, program directors, and customer executives.
Willingness to travel to US and European locations.
Based in the Los Angeles area or willing to relocate.
US Person status as defined by ITAR (22 CFR §120.62); the role requires access to export-controlled technical data.

Nice To Haves

Satellite development experience with nanosatellites, ESPA-class satellites, or large satellites, and an understanding of the design trade space at the relevant size and cost point.
Experience with productized or platform-based spacecraft, where engineering focuses on how much to change rather than what to build.
Constellation or multi-mission architecture experience.
Hands-on depth in structures and FEA, thermal analysis, or flight software beyond managing those functions.
Experience with hosted payloads, rideshare accommodation, or unusual payload classes.
Experience with both commercial and government programs, including familiarity with government technical requirements and compliance.
Experience in a distributed or international engineering organization, especially US–Europe.
Familiarity with spacecraft environmental test campaigns, including vibration, thermal vacuum, and EMI/EMC.
Working knowledge of ITAR/EAR.
UML/SysML and model-based systems engineering experience; familiarity with Atlassian tools such as Jira and Confluence.

Responsibilities

Hold final technical authority on US programs, sign off on architectures, arbitrate disagreements across disciplines, and determine how designs advance.
Assess system designs against mission needs, identify where the platform can be used as-is or must be adapted, and understand competitive positioning.
Own systems engineering end to end, including mission analysis, concepts of operations, requirements decomposition, subsystem allocation, interface control, verification, and payload-integration trades.
Lead the technical side of milestone reviews and ensure readiness for SRR, PDR, CDR, and TRR.
Identify, quantify, and manage technical risks; decide what should be tested or modified and communicate cost implications to the program team.
Set engineering standards across disciplines for analysis rigor, margins, documentation, design reviews, and model adequacy.
Use on-orbit operational experience to determine design changes for future builds.
Conceive technical solutions and new capabilities for customer missions that exceed current platform capabilities.
Lead payload integration engineering, including mechanical, electrical, thermal, and data interfaces, accommodation studies, and supporting analysis.
Assess technical feasibility during capture and advise what can be delivered, what it will take, and what should be declined.
Distinguish genuinely new mission needs from unfamiliar ones, reuse the platform where suitable, and build reusable capabilities instead of unmaintainable one-off solutions.
Lead technical discussions with customer engineering teams, evaluate and negotiate technical proposals, challenge low-value requirements, and clarify customer goals.
Define and grow the US engineering organization across systems, mechanical and structural/FEA, thermal, and software disciplines.
Grow systems engineering capacity, develop teams and leaders, delegate authority, and build technical leadership depth.
Align US and European engineering standards, tooling, interfaces, and architecture while developing US operational independence.
Establish requirements and configuration management, analysis tooling, and design-review practices appropriate to the organization’s scale and pace.
Partner with the VP of Mission & Programs on engineering resourcing and program capacity.
Travel to US and European locations as needed.