Principal Satellite Systems Engineer in Mundelein

Job Description

Principal Satellite Systems Engineer

A leading Earth-observation and space technology company is hiring a Principal Satellite Systems Engineer to support the development and delivery of next- satellite systems.

This role will take technical ownership of satellite bus procurement and supplier oversight, working with external spacecraft vendors from initial requirements and design reviews through integration, environmental testing, launch, and on-orbit operations.

The Role

• Lead technical interactions with satellite bus suppliers and manage design or performance issues.
• Develop statements of work, bus specifications, system requirements, and verification criteria.
• Review spacecraft designs, ICDs, analysis packages, integration plans, and test reports.
• Evaluate vendor responses to RFIs and RFPs.
• Confirm that supplier hardware and software meet mission, payload, and environmental requirements.
• Support payload-to-bus integration across power, data, thermal, structural, RF, timing, and software interfaces.
• Oversee qualification for LEO environments, including radiation, thermal, structural, and EMI/EMC considerations.

What We’re Looking For

• Approximately 5–12 years of aerospace or satellite systems engineering experience.
• End-to-end spacecraft programme experience, from architecture through assembly, integration, testing, and on-orbit operations.
• Experience owning the design, analysis, qualification, or verification of a satellite bus or complete spacecraft.
• Strong requirements development, decomposition, traceability, and verification experience.
• Proven subcontractor or spacecraft-vendor oversight experience.
• Strong knowledge of LEO environments and their impact on spacecraft performance.
• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, aerospace, physics, or a related technical field.

Particularly Relevant Experience

• Earth-observation satellite programmes
• Satellite bus lead or spacecraft lead systems engineering
• RF communications, radios, transmitters, or transceivers
• Mission data recorders and space-qualified memory
• Precision timing systems
• Encryption hardware or IP cores
• Satellite flight-software architecture
• Space-based edge computing or AI processing
• Optical crosslink terminals
• Environmental qualification and test oversight

This is a broad, highly visible role suited to an experienced systems engineer who can combine deep spacecraft knowledge with strong supplier management and technical decision-making.

The position includes a competitive base salary, annual incentive, comprehensive benefits, and the opportunity to work on advanced Earth-observation missions.