Varda Space Industries
Spacecraft Systems Engineer, Flight Safety
About this role
Varda seeks a Spacecraft Systems Engineer for flight safety and reentry compliance to perform mission-critical analyses and manage FAA Part 450 regulatory authorization. You will lead functional hazard assessments, trajectory modeling, and debris containment studies while serving as the flight safety authority during operations and recovery.
What you'll do
- Conduct flight safety analyses focused on failure mode trajectory modeling and debris field containment for each mission
- Execute regulatory strategy, Methods of Compliance, and safety cases for FAA launch and reentry authorizations
- Complete vehicle-level functional hazard analyses (FHA) and failure mode and effect analyses (FMEA)
- Act as Flight Safety responsible engineer during mission rehearsals and live recovery operations
- Establish technical safety limits and mission rules for real-time on-console operations
- Deliver vehicle-level compliance documents to regulatory organizations for reentry licenses and authorizations
What they're looking for
- FAA Part 450 regulations and expected casualty modeling
- Trajectory dispersion and debris analysis
- Functional Hazard Analysis (FHA) and Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA)
- Fault Tree Analysis and risk management methodologies
- Aerospace systems integration and interdisciplinary coordination
- Safety-critical mission operations in space or aviation
- Technical communication with regulators and cross-functional teams
- Real-time mission operations and on-console safety management
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Varda Space Industries
Varda Space Industries builds commercial spacecraft and orbital manufacturing systems for missions in low Earth orbit, including reentry capsules and satellite buses. The company is hiring mission operations engineers, software engineers (ground segment, flight, and embedded), and manufacturing engineers to develop mission-critical systems, operational infrastructure, and scalable production capabilities.
- Website
- varda.com
Likely interview questions
- Describe your experience performing trajectory modeling and debris field analysis for flight safety—what tools or methodologies did you use?
- Walk us through a complex FHA or FMEA you led: how did you identify critical failure modes and ensure verification?