Sr. Principal Chief Engineer – Constellation System

Summary  

Be more than just an employee number! Join Terran Orbital, a leader in innovation, manufacturing, and operations in the satellite industry. We are a pioneer in the miniaturization of space technologies and the delivery of responsive space solutions. We are a unique, fast-growing, and trusted team focused on quickly and economically designing, building, launching, and operating state-of-the-art systems including both space and ground segments for advanced mission constellations.  

Terran Orbital is seeking an experienced Constellation System Chief Engineer to join our growing team as a key member of our leadership team. The Chief Engineer reports directly to the SVP of Engineering and is a key member of the Engineering leadership team that works closely with engineering functional teams and program managers, as a technical authority to ensure product definition and design that meets customers’ needs with technical excellence.  The Chief Engineer also supports development of solutions, provides input to technical cost proposals, drives affordability, and ensures technical integrity of delivered products with rigor through design, testing and technical issue resolution.  The Chief Engineer will also serve as a technical authority for the organization and provide technical leadership for the development roadmaps, engineering standards, process, and tool development, incorporating best practices and lessons learned across the portfolio.    

 Key Duties and Responsibilities 

• Act as a hands-on leader, providing technical expertise and guidance for the system architects and technical leads of the program
• Responsible for defining and implementing the architectural baseline of the system balancing technical and programmatic risks
• Ensure technical integrity and technical rigor of space & ground segment architecture, design, analysis, testing, and investigations
• Lead specialty engineering (Radiation, EMI/EMC, etc.) and simulation and modelling of the system
• Supports driving program key requirements and risk areas
• Responsible for Validation of the System Requirement and driving verification of design requirements
• Chairs program Engineering, Material and Failure Review Boards (ERB/MRB/FRB)
• Provide leadership, mentoring, and guidance to the engineering teams
• Technical Interface with engineering, manufacturing, quality and program organization
• Establish program best practices, frameworks, guidelines, standards, processes, and tools
• Participate and lead the technical discussions with customers and suppliers to ensure mission success
• Develop and maintain technical network and relationships with senior level customer counterparts
• Guide architecture trades to find balanced solutions for technical, schedule, and cost
• Support the sales and business development teams in development of technology strategy and by adding technical excellence to proposals and presentations
• Maintain working knowledge of industry engineering practices, tools, and trends
• Identify and engage meaningful technical inputs from other enterprise contributors and external experts, as needed, to provide optimal focus and skills for challenging and specialty technical topics
• 100% On site position in Irvine, CA. Up to 25% travel required. 

Qualifications and Skills
 

• Bachelor's of Engineering or a related field is required, advanced degree preferred
• 10+ years of experience in Constellation Space & ground segment system development and operations
• 5+ years of aerospace experience working in a Senior Chief Engineering role
• Experience in System of System architecture definition, design and operations.
• Experience in SysML or DoDAF and implementation of MBSE
• Subject matter expert in one or more Constellation, Spacecraft, or ground system design and operations.
• Familiarity with other engineering processes, disciplines and Subject Matter Authorities
• Experience in one or more of the following: analog and digital electronics, Communications, Optical or RF missions and payloads, digital data processing, edge networking, spacecraft mission operations.
• Experience conducting failure investigations (root cause analysis, corrective action definition, failure review boards, etc.)
• Experience supporting the technical evaluation of design and requirements verification
• Experience in different phases of aerospace system development cycle and mission life cycle experience including concept development, detail design, design reviews, manufacturing and AIT, operations, and anomaly investigations
• Familiarity with industry standards including TOR, GEVS, AIAA, MIL-STD, etc.
• Per the requirement o