Overview As a Spacecraft Design Engineer, you will shape Apex's satellite platforms from concept to early development, defining architectures that balance performance, reliability, manufacturability, and cost for high-volume production. You'll serve as a platform integrator, translating mission needs into clear system requirements and interfaces for downstream teams. You'll perform trade studies and risk analyses to guide design decisions, collaborating across propulsion, avionics, power, structures, thermal, software, and manufacturing. This role offers the chance to influence the future of spacecraft buses and enable access to Earth orbit and beyond.
Compensation / Benefits- equity in Apex
- 100% company-paid healthcare (medical, dental, vision)
- life insurance at no cost
- generous PTO and holidays
- 401(k) with matching
- paid parental leave and childcare reimbursement
Responsibilities- Define and evolve end-to-end satellite system architectures across multiple mission profiles
- Perform system-level trade studies to optimize performance, reliability, cost, mass, and schedule
- Analyze and allocate system requirements to spacecraft subsystems
- Define and maintain system interfaces and interface control documents (ICDs)
- Define, document, and manage platform-level requirements during early lifecycle phases
- Maintain traceability between customer needs, system requirements, and subsystem designs
- Identify technical risks early and develop mitigation strategies
- Perform system-level analyses (margins, sensitivities, FMEA) to inform design decisions
- Collaborate closely with propulsion, avionics, power, structures, thermal, software, and manufacturing teams
- Translate mission concepts into executable platform designs
- Support internal design reviews and customer technical discussions
- Prepare designs for transition into integration, test, and qualification
Key requirements- U.S. Person status (ability to access export-controlled data)
- Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related field (Master's preferred)
- 6+ years of experience working on complex hardware systems (spacecraft preferred)
- Strong understanding of satellite subsystems and their interactions
- Experience with system-level trade studies, requirements definition, and interface management
- Strong analytical, communication, and documentation skills
- Strong analytical abilities
- Clear communication and documentation
- Cross-functional collaboration
- Experience with system-level trade studies, requirements definition, and interface management
- Familiarity with SysML, Jira, Excel
- Experience with early validation or risk-reduction testing
