Job Description
We are looking for a Senior Systems Engineer to join our Space Missions area, specifically within the Systems Engineering team. The selected candidate will take on a central technical role in the definition and execution of space missions, acting as Technical Lead when required. This includes assuming system-level responsibility, leading the architecture and design process, ensuring technical coherence, and coordinating the work of specialized engineering teams. You will participate in all mission phases, from early definition (Phase 0/A) to final implementation and launch, ensuring proper validation at each milestone (PDR, CDR, etc.) and contributing to post-delivery support when required.
Position Tasks and Responsibilities
Main responsibilities include:
Leading the definition and consolidation of mission requirements (MRD) and system requirements (SRD) in alignment with customer needs and mission objectives.
Designing and iterating mission architectures, ensuring subsystem compatibility, scalability, and alignment with performance, cost, and risk constraints.
Developing and maintaining the Concept of Operations (CONOPS) and defining operational modes (OpModes) to guide system behavior across mission phases.
Performing subsystem trade-off analyses to support selection and procurement of mission-specific equipment, both commercial and custom-developed.
Supporting launcher selection, including assessment of mechanical and electrical interface compatibility, volume constraints, and environmental requirements.
Leading the definition and implementation of the system-level verification approach, including the creation and management of a Requirements Verification Matrix (RoD).
Coordinating closely with other internal teams—Mission Analysis, Communications & Data Handling, and Mechanical—to ensure system integration and coherence.
Supporting commercial activities through technical inputs to proposals, in collaboration with the Platform Product Owner, contributing to solution design and feasibility assessments.
Candidate qualifications and skills
We are looking for a technically solid, autonomous and collaborative engineer with the ability to lead and coordinate multi-disciplinary efforts at the system level. The ideal candidate should have:
A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering or a related discipline.
At least 5 years of relevant experience in system-level engineering for space missions, preferably in small satellite projects or within the New Space environment.
Proven experience in:
Mission and system requirements engineering (MRD, SRD).
Mission architecture design and subsystem definition.
CONOPS and OpModes development.
Verification planning and management (RoD).
Experience acting as Technical Lead, with a clear ability to manage technical risks, facilitate decision-making, and lead reviews (e.g., PDR, CDR).
Excellent communication, documentation, and coordination skills, with the ability to work across teams and with external partners.
Fluency in English (spoken and written).
Ability to operate autonomously, while maintaining alignment with overall mission and company goals.
Nice to have
Hands-on experience in nanosatellite development projects, including AIT (Assembly, Integration and Test).
Familiarity with ECSS or NASA standards and processes.
Experience working with launch providers, including interface documentation and campaign preparation.
Involvement in proposal writing, particularly within competitive tenders or institutional frameworks (ESA, Horizon Europe, etc.).
Knowledge of Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) or tools such as MagicDraw, Capella, SysML, or equivalent.
About us
About Alén Space
Alén Space is a New Space company focused on the development of missions based on Nanosatellites as well as products and services related to them. Our mission is to help our clients to develop their business plan designing, manufacturing and operating satellites in order to execute the application they need.
While Alén Space is a new company, our team has been involved in several complete nanosatellite missions, from specification to delivery, during the last 15 years. Alén Space technical team is composed of systems engineers, electronic engineers, AIV engineers, software and operations engineers and project managers; with a large experience on IOD, communication, commercial and scientific missions, with private and public institutions such as the European Space Agency.
Alén Space’s value proposition resides in the flexibility and expertise of our team. We utilize our design and testing methodologies, which allow the use of components from various suppliers, to create the most suitable platform for the requested mission. During more than a decade, all our nanosatellites missions have been fully designed in-house, following the same multi-provider approach, resulting on a 100% success rate in orbit, for all launched missions.
At Alén Space, quality and flexibility in the design, manufacturing and testing are hallmarks of the company. The quality of the process is achieved through meticulous testing and verification processes, keeping traceability of all the executed activities. The flexibility is achieved thanks to the proximity relationship with our clients and to our supplier agnostic approach. This relationship aims not only at easing the communication process, but also at allowing our commercial clients to take an important role on the design aspects. In this line, we design the most flexible spacecraft platforms, to accommodate subsystem suppliers’ changes without heavily impacting the overall mission. Our systems and AIV engineers work closely with the client, in order to take decisions and involve them in the process.
Our team has enhanced a work method that applies the strict quality standards set by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Cooperation for Space Standardization (ECSS). All of our management, system engineering and AIV processes are based on those standards.
Quality, Flexibility, Scalability, Proximity, Expertise and Success define all Alén Space values.
Do you want to orbit with us?
We offer the opportunity to join a challenging space project together with a self-motivated team with great experience in the design and manufacturing of small satellites!
Conditions
