Varda Space
Senior Space Systems Engineer, Flight Safety
$140K–$179K
El Segundo, California, United States · Senior · Full-time · Posted Oct 1, 2026
- Experience
- Minimum 5 years of relevant aerospace engineering experience; prior mission assurance, flight safety, or senior systems engineering role.
- Education
- Bachelor’s degree in aerospace, mechanical, electrical, manufacturing, systems engineering, or related field.
- Visa sponsorship
- Must be a U.S. person permitted access to export-controlled technology without an export license: U.S. citizen, U.S. lawful permanent resident, or a protected individual admitted as a refugee or granted asylum.
About the job
Leads flight safety analysis, regulatory strategy, and reentry compliance for Varda’s spacecraft missions, from safety verification through live operations.
What you'll do
- Own FAA launch and reentry authorization strategy, means of compliance, safety cases, and vehicle-level regulatory deliverables.
- Lead vehicle-level FHA and FMEA and maintain expected casualty and debris risk models against regulatory thresholds.
- Set safety limits and mission rules, and serve as the flight safety engineer during rehearsals and live recovery operations.
What they ask for
- Bachelor’s degree in aerospace, mechanical, electrical, manufacturing, systems engineering, or a related field.
- At least 5 years of relevant aerospace engineering experience, including a prior role in mission assurance, flight safety, or senior systems engineering.
- Demonstrated experience with FAA Part 450, expected casualty modeling, trajectory dispersion, and/or debris analysis.
- Experience with aerospace interdisciplinary systems integration and risk management methods/tools such as FMEA, FHA, and Fault Tree Analysis.
Nice to have
- Safety-critical mission operations experience in aviation or space.
- Experience with FCC Part 25 or Part 5 licensing for satellite and reentry communications.
Pay
USD 140,333 - USD 179,314 per year (base salary)
Tools
FAA Part 450, FMEA, FHA, Fault Tree Analysis, FCC Part 25, Part 5
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative