The Enterprise Effects Division (EED) drives integration of Aerospace’s strategic capabilities across the national space enterprise. The divisionleveragesa broad array of engineering disciplines against a dynamic portfolio of programs, customers, and national challenges. EED spans the capability lifecycle from concept and architecture design to performance assessment to application of space and space-enabled capabilities.

The Vehicle and Ground Concepts Department (VGCD) in EED provides space vehicle and ground system preliminary/conceptual design; trade and architecture analysis, modeling, processdevelopmentand leadershipexpertise; and tool development in support of conceptual design activities across the space enterprise. As a member of VGCD, you will be designing innovative spacecraft and ground segment solutions to meet the most pressing mission needs of our US Space Force, Intelligence Community, NASA, NOAA, and commercial/international customers.  

Work Model: This position will follow an in-person work model with a minimum of 4 days per week of onsite workrequiredattheNOAA/NESDIS HQ Offices in Silver Spring, MD orone of Aerospace’s campuses.

WhatYou’llBe Doing 

• Provideconcept exploration and engineering support for NOAA satellite ground system architectures supporting disaggregated observation missions

• Lead andparticipatein conceptual and preliminary architecture studies and trades of ground systems capable of integrating data and services from NOAA,internationalpartners, and commercial satellite assets

• Evaluateground system design and architecture concepts for multi-source data integration andparticipatein design reviews

• Work with applicable program offices and technical experts across Aerospace Corporation

• Develop tools and models that support ground system concept design, architecture trades, and interoperability analysis for heterogeneous satellite constellations

• Mentor junior members of the organization

What You Need to be Successful 

MinimumRequirements forEngineering Specialist:

• Bachelorof Sciencedegreeengineering, science, or a related technical field

• Typically,at least 6years of engineering experienceleading, developing, and working on multidisciplinary teamsinthe space, intelligence, and/or defense domains

• A strong knowledge of satellite ground systems, Earth observation spacecraft systems, and systems engineering principles

• Proven ability to work in a fast-paced environment, adapt quickly to change, anddemonstrateinitiative under deadlines

• Demonstrated experience in developing ground systems concepts for satellite missions

• Demonstrated experience in mission control, mission processing systems, or data processing architectures for space-based Earth observation systems

• Demonstrated experience in concurrent engineering tools, processes, and methodologies

• Demonstrated ability to work independently and conduct long-term technical studies for geographically dispersed programs

• Available and willing to travel domestically and internationally approx. 5-10%

• This position requiresthe ability to obtain and maintain aTop Secret/SCI security clearance issued by theU.S. government.U.S. citizenship isrequiredto obtain a security clearance

How You Can Stand Out 

It would be impressive if youhaveone or more of these:

• Advanced degreein engineering, math, science, or related technical discipline

• Demonstrated experience with cloud-based ground system architectures and offering (i.e., Amazon, Microsoft, or Oracle) forsatellite operations and data processing

• Demonstrated experience with hybridon-premiseand cloud infrastructure for Earth observation data systems

• Demonstrated experience with ground station architectures, networks, antenna systems, and RF ground entry points for satellite downlink

• Demonstrated experience with data interoperability standards and protocols for multi-mission, multi-source satellite dataintegrationand Earth observation (e.g., HDF5,NetCDF, CCSDS)

• Demonstrated experience with communications and networking architectures supporting distributed ground systems

• Demonstrated experience with software architectures supporting satellite data processing, including microservices, APIs, and service-orientedarchitectures

• Knowledge of agile and DevOps approaches for ground system software development

• Familiarity with database technologies and distributed processing frameworks for large-scale Earth observation data

• Demonstrated experience with data center design, operations, network maintenance, load balancing, and data coordination

• Proficiencyin simulation tools/programming languages, including one or more of: MATLAB, Python, Simulink, STK, C , etc.

• Experience with international partnership agreements and commercial data acquisition strategies

• Familiarity with NOAA mission requirements and operational constraints

• Experienced in the ethical and effective application of generative AI and LLMs to streamline workflows and enhance output quality.