Program Chief Engineer at Turion Space in Irvine, CA

Job description

Turion is developing the critical infrastructure of the space economy. We're doing this by building vertically integrated hardware and software: DROID, our line of space vehicles, and Starfire, our software suite covering simulation, modeling, planning, and operations. We're a group of people who fell in love with the future sci-fi promised us, and we're building it into reality. We build hard things. We build them well. And we're just getting started. We are seeking an exceptional Program Chief Engineer to act as technical lead for missions relying on highly maneuverable and agile small satellites, beginning with the GEO Space Domain Awareness mission set. This senior technical leadership role owns technical architecture and baseline across all facets of the mission. The Program Chief Engineer ensures that all aspects of the mission, from requirements decomposition and traceability to mission capability verification, are properly defined, progressed, and documented to meet both customer and mission success criteria. Key Responsibilities: Program Chief Engineering Leadership Serve as technical lead and authority for assigned programs, owning end-to-end satellite architecture and ensuring appropriate technical progress throughout the program lifecycle Drive resolution of complex cross-disciplinary technical issues, making authoritative architectural decisions that balance performance, cost, and schedule Lead teams through all technical milestones including, SRR, PDR, CDR, TRR, and PSR, and post-launch operations Interact directly with customers and suppliers as the primary technical point of contact to ensure mission success Mission Definition & Technical Baseline Own and maintain system-level budgets ensuring the technical baseline demonstrably meets requirements and technical performance measures (mass, power, delta-V, pointing, data, link, MTF, etc.) Work alongside mission stakeholders to define and refine mission CONOPS, translating operational needs into rigorous system-level requirements Lead derivation and maintenance of system requirements, ensuring full traceability from mission-level objectives through system, subsystem, and component requirements Ensure requirements decomposition is executed correctly and that traceability is maintained throughout the entire technical baseline Requirements Traceability & Compliance Establish and maintain robust requirements traceability frameworks to satisfy customer compliance documentation expectations Author and oversee Interface Control Documents (ICDs) and all systems engineering documentation required for program compliance Define and execute verification and validation plans (test, demonstration, analysis, inspection) at system and subsystem levels Track system compliance and overall performance against mission needs, proactively identifying and resolving gaps Stakeholder & Team Leadership Provide top-level technical leadership across the entire mission lifecycle, including space and ground segments, from proposal and concept through design, manufacturing, test, and operations Collaborate with and guide multi-disciplinary engineering experts across all subsystems Work with internal and external stakeholders to ensure mission CONOPS alignment and technical coherence Mentor senior and mid-level systems engineers, elevating team-wide systems engineering discipline Minimum Qualifications Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related field 12+ years of experience in spacecraft systems engineering or spacecraft design, with hands-on experience in satellite design and integration, OR 8+ years of experience with direct experience in relevant mission areas. Demonstrated experience serving as a Chief Program Engineer or lead systems engineer on a complete spacecraft program Deep expertise in requirements derivation, decomposition, and traceability from mission level through subsystems Proven ability to own and maintain all system-l