What Impact You'll HaveWe are seeking a motivated
Associate / Junior Systems Engineer to join an agile, multi-team engineering initiative supporting mission-critical satellite ground systems. In this role, you will work alongside experienced systems and software engineers to translate operational needs into working digital engineering artifacts, interface specifications, and software requirements.
This is a hands-on position ideal for an early-career systems engineer looking to expand their skills in modern Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), agile software collaboration, and satellite ground mission operations.
What You'll be Owning- Assist in decomposing customer requirements, operational concepts, and system workflows into functional requirements, use cases, sequence diagrams, and interface control documentation under the guidance of senior staff.
- Update and maintain behavioral and structural architecture models using SysML tools, helping ensure model elements link cleanly to requirements and downstream software tickets.
- Embed with an agile development team to participate in sprint planning, stand-ups, and backlog refinement. Assist developers in interpreting requirements and defining clear acceptance criteria for user stories.
- Help document software-facing interface protocols, message structures, and data schemas (such as REST, JSON, or message queues) to support ground segment communications.
- Support verification and validation efforts by drafting test steps, mapping test cases to system requirements, and working with software testers to execute automated verification test runs.
- Attend technical exchange meetings (TEMs) and working groups, document action items, and contribute technical data to customer demonstration decks and review packages.
What You Must Have- Active or current Top-Secret clearance with SCI access and polygraph (TS/SCI with poly).
- Bachelor's degree in a STEM field (Systems Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Computer Science, or related discipline) with 2+ years of professional engineering experience (or Master's degree with 0-1+ years).
- Foundational knowledge of satellite systems, ground segments, Command and Control (C2), or mission operations workflows.
- Academic or professional exposure to Model-Based Systems Engineering principles and SysML diagramming
- Familiarity with software communication fundamentals, including data formatting (JSON/XML) and standard interface protocols (HTTP/REST, messaging queues).
- Practical experience using agile collaboration tools such as the Atlassian suite (Jira, Confluence) for task tracking and documentation.
- Understanding of basic test planning, requirements verification concepts, and the software development lifecycle (SDLC).
What Would be Nice to Have- Basic familiarity with modern containerization concepts or microservice architectures (Docker, Kubernetes).
- Exposure to automated testing tools or scripting languages (e.g., Python, Bash) used for test verification.
- Understanding of satellite mission threads or space-to-ground telemetry and command flow.
- Eagerness to learn complex mission domains and develop deep MBSE modeling capabilities.
Pay Range: - The pay range for this position is: $100,000 - $160,000
Colorado Pay Range
$100,000-$160,000 USD
Virginia Pay Range
$100,000-$160,000 USD
