Senior Mission Design Engineer

We improve life on Earth with data from space.

Spire Global is a space-to-cloud analytics company that owns and operates the largest multi-purpose constellation of satellites. Its proprietary data and algorithms provide the most advanced maritime, aviation, and weather tracking in the world. In addition to its constellation, Spire’s data infrastructure includes a global ground station network and 24/7 operations that provide real-time global coverage of every point on Earth.

As a mission design engineer, you will be responsible of evaluating various aspects of a space mission including constellation formations, propulsion budgets, access/revisit models, data budgets, data latency models, power budgets, and vehicle & ground system architectures. You will help inform the mission and vehicle design trade-offs that will shape the future of both Spire and our customer’s satellite constellations. You will be part of the mission design and analysis group, which helps with evaluating mission concepts and the vehicle and constellation designs comprising them. You will leverage and improve upon our constellation simulation and modeling tools by performing coverage and revisit time modeling, latency modeling, ground-station contact analysis, inter-satellite link analysis, data budgets, power model, etc. 

You’ll have the opportunity to make a real impact to Spire by participating on the design of key missions for the future of Spire, with ever-increasing complexity and product requirements. You’ll move fast, iterate quickly, and solve global problems. You might be the right fit if you love exciting technical challenges, hate getting bored, and enjoy collaborating with engineers who are changing the way the world thinks about space, satellites, and data.

Responsibilities:

Design and trade off various vehicle and constellation architectures to inform solution spaces for mission concepts and requirements. Perform power analysis, coverage and revisit time analysis, propulsion sizing, latency analysis, data budgets and other mission design studies. Leverage existing in-house tools and industry-standard constellation simulation tools (e.g. STK). Extend the capabilities of in-house constellation, spacecraft, and subsystem simulation tools, including payload models, coverage and revisit time modeling, latency modeling, ground-station contact analysis, inter-satellite link analysis, data budgets etc. Coordinate with spacecraft and constellation software teams to build accurate models of subsystems and processes  Work closely with sales engineering and other internal engineering teams to evaluate and inform solution proposals for new business initiatives or new mission concepts. 

Qualifications:

Degree in STEM field Strong programming experience (Python preferred) Experience using models in the real world, using real telemetry or sensor data Experience modelling physical systems and processes Basic data analytics and data processing to parse and visualize model outputs Good working knowledge of spacecraft orbital and rigid-body dynamics

Strong candidates will also possess skills in one or more of the following areas:

Demonstrated experience with LEO constellation modelling Demonstrated experience with satellite communications systems Basic working knowledge of communications systems engineering (e.g. link budgets) Experience using aerospace modelling tools (e.g. STK, Matlab/Simulink) Basic machine learning and data science skills Well-versed in Linux and git 

Spire operates a hybrid work model, and this position will require you to work a minimum of three days per week in office.

Access to US export controlled software and/or technology may be required. #LI-MI1

Spire is Global and our success draws upon the diverse viewpoints, skills and experiences of our employees. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity or veteran status.

Applying from California? Please review the .

Applying from the EU? Please review Spire's Privacy Policy.