Job summary

This role is real "rocket science" and is a fantastic chance in a lifetime opportunity to join the Mission Concepts team with responsibility to lead the initial analysis and design of exciting future space missions.

Key skills required for this role

Senior Mission Concepts Engineer

Important

Senior Mission Concepts Engineer

Job description

The Mission Concept Engineering role plays an essential part in working with the Business Development team, the CTO (Chief Technical Officer) and the Director of Engineering at the front end of the business. This often involves working with and leading other technical disciplines, to bring together quality and pragmatic solutions for innovative projects from initial "Blue Skies" mission concepts.

Key purpose of the role is to technically lead studies, bid activities, and the internal development of new concepts (typically to the end of Phase A for transition to the Systems Team) for most types of space missions to support the company strategy, and bring significant relevant experience, knowledge and skills into the team to develop these new missions.

Key Tasks

As a senior member of the Mission Concepts Team:

• Act as a mentor less experienced and knowledgeable members of the team;
• Provide peer review for SSTL activities;
• Share findings and knowledge with the team;
• Communicate and collaborate with all areas of SSTL and external partners.
• Liaise closely/ensure alignment with the systems team and wider engineering

New Mission Concepts and Blue Sky Research:

• Work closely with the CTO and Director of Engineering to lead and facilitate blue sky studies that inform the SSTL Executive's decisions and company roadmaps;
• Perform parametric mission level trade-off analysis.
• Perform preliminary business case analysis (if required)
• Develop and participate in collaborations with UK universities
• Perform identification and analysis of future enabling technologies and techniques for input into studies and SSTL technology roadmaps.

Development:

• Conduct Mission feasibility activity utilising lateral thinking, mission and business analysis and producing end-to-end Mission Concept designs;
• Leading and delivering the proposal and study work in Mission feasibility studies;
• Maintaining a current understanding of SSTL working practises, heritage products and capability such that deviations are understood and communicated;
• Communicate Mission feasibility activity to SSTL stakeholders;
• Deliver and present conference papers on selected Mission Feasibility activity;
• Work with business development to support market intelligence gathering;
• Support the business line and engineering roadmaps ensuring SSTL has future valid business opportunities to pursue;

Mission delivery - Work with SSTL business development and customers to develop an understanding of customer's needs during the requirements capture phase of a mission bid

• Produce reference designs to enable discussion with customers on requirements;
• Challenge and offer alternative requirements to ensure SSTL are able to deliver solutions with a high performance/cost ratio.
• Perform mission analysis to help inform and verify any mission solution
• Provide the means to ensure the essence of what the customer's needs and environment is understood by all subsequent phases of the mission.
• When required support the 'Mission systems' team in delivering a mission solution.

Previous Experience

• At least 8 years experience in space engineering roles (for Senior Engineer). Dependant of skills and experience for Principal Engineer (higher level than Senior Engineer)
• Mission analysis for a range of space based mission types.
• Space mission design to the sub-system level - covering space and ground segments - starting from end user requirements. Ideally the experience should cover a broad range of mission types including Telecomms, Navigation, Earth Observation, Space Safety and exploration.
• Managing, and/or technically leading, space mission design studies and proposals.
• Desirable experience that candidate has taken a significant role in most if not all phases of a satellite mission (s).
• Desirable experience in business analysis to compliment the mission analysis element of concept activity.

Qualifications Knowledge & Skills

• Exceptional analytical and problem-solving skills;
• Excellent technical writing and presentation (generating and delivering) skills.
• Excellent communications and inter-personal skills
• Ability to plan and manage own work
• Pro-active and flexible with a can-do attitude
• Excellent knowledge of orbit analysis, spacecraft system modelling/budgets, operations, ground segment, space environment and satellite mechanical and electrical architectures.
• Excellent knowledge of a wide range of satellite applications.
• Ability to work under pressure and to tight timescales.
• Excellent knowledge of STK, GMAT or astrodynamics theory/modelling.
• Excellent knowledge of ESA DRAMA software for de-orbiting, demiseability etc.
• Desirable knowledge of payload design (RF and/or OpticalI/IR)
• Desirable knowledge of SaVoir mission analysis tool, and CAD and rendering tools
• Desirable knowledge of MBSE (Model Based Systems Engineering) and/or Concurrent Design Engineering
• Desirable knowledge of Matlab, Python and/or Excel VBA, or equivalent programming languages
• Desirable knowledge of the SPENVIS space environmental modelling tool
• Desirable knowledge of preliminary business case assessment/analysis
• A deep passion and enthusiasm for space
• Able to demonstrate company mindsets and behaviours; Be accountable, Drive & delivery, Communicate effectively, Self-manage effectively, Work as one team