Principal Engineer – Mission Systems
| Company | Iridium Communications |
|---|---|
| Location | Reston, VA, USA |
| Salary | $Not Provided – $Not Provided |
| Type | Full-Time |
| Degrees | Bachelor’s |
| Experience Level | Senior, Expert or higher |
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in system’s engineering or related field, OR equivalent relevant experience in lieu of a degree
- 10+ years of relevant experience in the DoD (Department of Defense) or IC (Intelligence Community) sector designing, developing, and implementing ground systems in support of space missions
- Experience with systems engineering, agile software development, and hardware integration
- Ability to decompose a complex mission into its component parts and analyze the relationships between those parts to then identify potential risks and problems early on and develop effective solutions to mitigate those risks
- Strong familiarity with tools and software applications that support system engineering best practices
- Ability to formulate problem statements, characterizing missions, identifying mission metrics, and using models to analyze missions
- Excellent communication skills, with the ability to convey products, deliverables, analyses, and/or issues clearly and confidently, and recognize and adapt to different communication techniques
- Be able to analyze a situation or problem, generate effective solutions, and see those solutions through to completion
- Must possess the creativity and resourcefulness needed to make reliable decisions and determine methods on new assignments
- Can easily build meaningful relationships with others, including senior leadership outside of your own department, and comfortable providing constructive feedback to your team members and management
- Can thrive in a dynamic environment by handling multiple tasks and managing shifting priorities
- Be proactive in sharing knowledge you’ve learned with others
Responsibilities
- Plan, organize, and integrate current and emerging operational and system capabilities to achieve desired warfighting mission effects
- Deliver engineering results to identify enhanced capabilities, technologies, system interdependencies, and architectures in development of reference missions and close mission capability gaps
- Use systems in an operational mission context to inform stakeholders about building the right functions and guiding capability maturation to address warfighter mission needs
- Provide technical leadership and oversight for the integration of multiple components within a satellite ground system, ensuring compatibility, functionality, and performance at the system level
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including hardware, software, and network engineers, to ensure integration and interoperability of system components
- Conduct system-level analysis and troubleshooting to identify and resolve complex technical issues, coordinating with relevant stakeholders to implement effective solutions
- Develop and maintain system-level architecture and design documentation, ensuring alignment with project requirements, industry standards, and best practices
- Conduct risk assessments and mitigation planning for system integration activities, identifying potential risks, developing contingency plans, and implementing risk mitigation strategies
- Collaborate with system architects and project managers to define system-level requirements, establish technical baselines, and track performance metrics throughout the integration process
- Collaborate with government agencies and stakeholders to understand mission objectives, requirements, and constraints, and ensure that system engineering activities align with these objectives
- Develop and implement mission assurance plans and processes to assess and mitigate risks associated with system design, integration, testing, and operations, ensuring mission success and resilience
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with Link-16 and other tactical sensors
- Knowledge of Overhead Persistent Infra-Red (OPIR) operations
- Experience with space operations, including mission control, telemetry, and mission services
- Experience with Space Vehicle Subsystems and various command and control systems (e.g. OS Comet, InControl, etc.)
- Experience with launch and early operations of space vehicles
- Working knowledge of networking protocols, routers, switches, etc.
- Familiarity with Atlassian Tool Suite such as JIRA, R4J, and Confluence