Senior Components Systems Engineer Emphasis on ADCS

Blue Canyon Technologies, RTX's small satellite manufacturer and mission services provider, is solving some of the toughest challenges in space. Our components and bus platforms have completed missions ranging from very-low Earth orbits to lunar and interplanetary journeys at a fraction of the cost of traditional space systems. We support premier defense, commercial and civil organizations including the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, NASA, MIT Lincoln Lab, the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Colorado and more. Join our innovative and dynamic company as we build, test and operate the small spacecraft of the future.

Position Purpose: This roles owns the day-to-day technical execution of our spacecraft component lines. This role is embedded in the Components team, supporting Attitude Determination and Control Systems and related components like star trackers, reaction wheels, control moment gyroscopes, torque rods, and sun sensors. This person will support all technical aspects of the product in active production with authority to lead technical development efforts and issue investigations and continuously enhance the technical maturity of the products.

This role is for someone who is comfortable being the technical “glue” for the team. You take ownership naturally, especially when things are ambiguous or need attention, and you don’t wait for perfect requirements to start asking the right questions and moving issues forward. You communicate clearly, stay steady under pressure, and rely on sound engineering judgment. You are comfortable leading through influence by creating clarity, aligning the team, and helping others make sound, product-minded technical decisions. You care about products that can be built, tested, and delivered at scale, and you take pride in engineering decisions that enable smooth factory execution, reliable throughput, and broad mission impact.

Title: Senior Components Systems Engineer

Position Type: Full Time

Pay Range: $108,000 - $180,000

(Salary to be determined by the education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities of the applicant, internal equity, and alignment with market data.)

On-site position at our Boulder, CO location (work locations are subject to change based on business need).

Benefits:

Employer sponsored health, dental, and vision benefits effective the first of the month following hire date

Life insurance

401k (matching 4% with a minimum 5% contribution)

Generous PTO (3 weeks of vacation + 3 floating holidays, 2 weeks of sick time, 7 paid holidays throughout the year) and parental leave

Job Responsibilities:

Coordinate and execute continuous production support activities including configuration management, production support including end-item-data-package (EIDP) generation and post-delivery troubleshooting

Contribute to test planning, qualification campaigns, and design validation testing; ensure test coverage aligns with system requirements

Identify and eliminate recurring quality issues; embed corrective actions into design and verification processes

Own sustainment efforts for flight and delivered hardware; track performance, identify trends, and implement long-term fixes

Work closely with Operations to identify production bottlenecks and opportunities to reduce lead time

Develop and maintain high-quality documentation including ICDs, verification matrices, test plans, and user guides; ensure engineering artifacts require no cleanup

Anticipate downstream integration issues and surface cross-functional risks early; resolve interface gaps before they escalate

Drive internal technical alignment by leading design reviews, risk burn-downs, and internal engineering meetings across mechanical, electrical, software and other engineering disciplines

Lead failure investigations for supported components and subsystems; drive root cause to closure and translate findings into design and test changes

Assist customer-facing discussions; clearly communicate status, design intent, and risk posture

Effectively work with and communicate with all levels of management and team member contributors on the product or program

Support onboarding and alignment of Level 1/2 engineers; model clear ownership and technical rigor in execution

May include personnel management responsibilities

Other responsibilities as assigned

Required Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree in Systems, Aerospace, Mechanical, or Electrical Engineering or a related technical discipline

Minimum 7 years of relevant engineering experience; Master’s degree may substitute for up to 2 years

Proven experience supporting space-qualified hardware through development, test, delivery and integration

Demonstrated ownership of engineering documentation including configuration management, interface control documents, verification matrices, and qualification test plans

Direct involvement in failure investigations and root cause analysis, with evidence of implemented corrective actions

Strong systems engineering fundamentals: interface control, requirements decomposition, and verification planning

Ability to lead and facilitate cross-functional technical reviews with mechanical, electrical, software, etc. counterparts

Clear and effective communication skills suitable for technical and customer-facing contexts

Related technical experience may be considered in lieu of education.

Preferred Qualifications:

Experience with ADCS systems and related components like star trackers, reaction wheels, control moment gyroscopes, torque rods, and sun sensors.

Hands-on support of on-orbit flight hardware or customer post-delivery troubleshooting

Familiarity with sustaining engineering practices, including configuration management and performance trending

Prior responsibility for customer-facing technical discussions, reviews, or briefings

Demonstrated ability to surface and resolve cross-functional risks early in the development lifecycle

Experience driving quality improvements across multiple flight programs or product lines

Exposure to rapid prototyping, agile hardware development, or concurrent engineering environments

Working Conditions:

This job operates in a professional office environment, but in a manufacturing company. This role uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, scanners, filing cabinets and fax machines. BCT anticipates the application window closing approximately 40 days from the date the notice was posted.  However, factors such as candidate flow and business necessity may require BCT to shorten or extend the application window.

Physical Demands and Work Environment:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit for long periods of time. The employee is occasionally required to stand, bend, reach, and walk. The position requires some light physical effort. This would require the ability to lift or move objects up to 10 pounds and occasionally lift or move objects up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities are required by this job which includes close vision, distance vision, and ability to adjust focus.

Blue Canyon Technologies is a drug-free workplace and an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, or any other protected factor. Colorado Residents:  In any materials you submit, you may redact or remove age-identifying information such as age, date of birth, or dates of school attendance or graduation.  You will not be penalized for redacting or removing this information.  Blue Canyon Technologies is committed to providing access, equal opportunity, and reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities. To request a reasonable accommodation, contact Melissa Po at
[email protected].

We recommend applying directly via the Blue Canyon Technologies website, careers page: 
https://www.bluecanyontech.com/careers