Role: Sr. Mission Design Engineer

Employment Type: Full Time

Educational Qualification: Bachelors / M.Tech / MS / Ph.D in Aerospace Engineering, Physics, Controls or equivalent

Work Experience: 4+ years of industry experience

Role Description:

The Senior Mission Design Engineer is a technical leader responsible for owning end-to-end mission design across multiple programs. This role requires deep expertise in astrodynamics, system-level trade studies, and mission architecture, combined with the ability to translate commercial and program requirements into robust, executable mission designs. You will be responsible for the entire lifecycle of mission development, from initial concept and feasibility studies to detailed mission design and operational support

You will lead complex trade-offs, define mission-level requirements and CONOPS, develop integrated mission analysis frameworks, and act as a key technical interface between mission planning, subsystem teams, and program leadership.

Responsibilities & Duties:

Mission & Orbit Architecture

Independently design, analyze, and optimize satellite or constellation missions across all lifecycle phases: launch, commissioning, nominal operations, station-keeping, and end-of-life disposal.
Perform advanced orbit and constellation design, maneuver planning, coverage, revisit, and performance analyses.
Provide multiple mission architecture options with quantified trade-offs across performance, cost, operational complexity, and risk.
Anticipate mission constraints and proactively propose mitigation strategies.

System-Level Analysis & Trade Studies

Lead system-level trade studies across multiple mission concepts, architectures, and operational strategies.
Balance mission objectives against spacecraft constraints, operational feasibility, and program timelines.
Clearly communicate trade study outcomes and recommendations to technical leadership and program stakeholders.

Cross-Functional Systems Integration

Act as the mission design focal point across subsystem teams (Systems, AOCS/GNC, Propulsion, Power, Communications, Payload, Mission Operations, Thermal).
Independently develop, own, and maintain Concept of Operations (CONOPS) and Mission Design & Analysis documentation for programs.
Work closely with program and commercial teams to interpret requirements and assess their technical and operational impact.
Anticipate cross-system interactions, identify integration risks early, and define mitigation approaches.

Mission Design Tools, Automation & Simulation

Develop and maintain integrated mission simulation environments combining multiple tools, models, and data sources.
Implement advanced automation, batch analyses, and dashboards to support rapid trade studies and decision-making.
Write high-quality, reusable Python/Java code and contribute shared libraries, templates, or workflows for team-wide use.

Technical Leadership and Mentorship

Provide technical guidance and design reviews for junior and mid-level mission design engineers.
Establish best practices for mission analysis, documentation, and reproducibility.
Support proposal development, early-phase mission studies, and external technical discussions as a subject-matter expert.

Required Skills:

Strong expertise in orbital mechanics, astrodynamics, classical dynamics, and the LEO space environment.
Extensive experience with mission design and analysis tools (e.g., STK, Orekit, GMAT, FreeFlyer, or equivalent).
Advanced programming skills in Python (preferred) or Java, with experience building reusable analysis pipelines.
Proven ability to lead complex analyses and make system-level design decisions.
Strong technical documentation and communication skills, with experience presenting to senior stakeholders.

Desired Skills:

Experience across the full lifecycle of LEO spacecraft missions.
Exposure to constellation design and operational mission planning.
Familiarity with version control systems (Git) and collaborative development workflows.
Experience supporting proposals, early mission studies, or customer-facing technical discussions.
Prior operational mission support or flight dynamics experience.

Candidate Acumen:

A strong desire to work in an unstructured, high-growth, fast-paced start-up environment

Benefits:

Health insurance coverage

Unlimited leaves & flexible working hours

Role-based remote work and work-from-home benefit

Relocation assistance

Professional Mental Wellness services

Creche facility for primary caregivers (limited to India)

Employee Stock Options for all hires

About Pixxel

Pixxel is a space data company, building a constellation of hyperspectral earth imaging satellites and the analytical tools to mine insights from that data. Pixxel's constellation is designed to provide global coverage every 24 hours and help detect, monitor, and predict global phenomena across agriculture, mining, environment and energy use cases.

Pixxel is on a mission to build a health monitor for the planet through a constellation of cutting-edge hyperspectral small satellites. This unique hyperspectral capability will be the key to unearth underlying, unseen problems that are invisible to satellites in orbit today.

Pixxel has collaborated with prominent organizations such as the Indian Space Research Organization, NASA JPL, and SpaceX among other leaders in the space industry. The organization is backed by Lightspeed, Radical Ventures, Relativity's Jordan Noone, Seraphim Capital, Ryan Johnson, Blume Ventures, Sparta LLC and Accenture among others.

Recently, Pixxel successfully raised $36 Million in its Series B funding round, with participation from new investors like Google, alongside existing investors, bringing the company's total venture funding to $71 Million.

To know more about us, visit https://www.pixxel.space.

Culture

Pixxel is an organisation where we enable our employees to work on world-changing problems that they are passionate about, and a place where they can be their best selves day in and day out while ensuring they have fun every day.

Central to our employee-first ethos is a commitment to ensuring that every team member feels valued and heard. We nurture a healthy and supportive work environment where we prioritise well-being and growth in all aspects of life

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