Advanced Mission Concepts Engineer (Staff)

Job description

As an Staff Advanced Mission Concepts Engineer a t Impulse, you will bridge the gap between high-level customer ambitions and the hard-engineering reality of our orbital transfer vehicles. You will own the physics-based feasibility of our future missions, ensuring we don't just "bid" missions, but architect them for success. You will sit within the Mission Management team, partnering with Business Development and Engineering to shape mission concepts, define system-level requirements, and ensure every solution is physically executable. This role includes direct customer engagement and occasional travel. Apply first-principles engineering and first-order systems sizing to rapidly iterate on mission concepts and architecture feasibility Define mission architectures, including CONOPS, trajectory requirements, and system-level trade studies Partner with engineering leads to ensure designs are grounded in realistic hardware constraints Act as the technical lead during capture phases, co-authoring concepts with Business Development Conduct iterative feasibility assessments to identify and bound technical risks before mission commitment Serve as the technical interface for customers to translate high-level ambitions into defined, executable mission requirements Lead complex trade studies that balance competing requirements, collaborating with SMEs to validate performance and ensure technical rigo Bachelor’s degree in a technical field 8+ years of aerospace engineering experience with a focus on systems engineering, mission analysis, or advanced concept design Strong ability to translate complex physics and orbital constraints into clear, non-technical trade-offs for executive stakeholders Deep proficiency with mission analysis tools (e.g., STK, GMAT, FreeFlyer) and scripting (Python, MATLAB) Functional understanding of spacecraft systems and payload accommodations