Satellite Systems Engineer (Payload & Spacecraft)

Satellite Systems Engineer (Payload & Spacecraft) at Player One Space About Player One Space Player One Space (P1S) is a Canadian space technology company headquartered in Vancouver, BC, building at the intersection of Space, AI, and Data. Our mission is to commercialize space and build a global category leader out of Canada — starting from Canada's regulatory, Arctic, and Five-Eyes advantages, and scaling worldwide. We have closed our seed round, are backed by top-tier funds, and have assembled a network of world-class advisors, mentors, and operators from across the space, defense, and data industries. Our team has shipped real spacecraft hardware (Khrunichev, Proton/Angara), built and operated LEO constellations inside Amazon's Project Kuiper, and led large-scale AI/data platforms at Amazon, Microsoft, and Fortune 500s. We are now putting our first satellites on orbit — and we need a hands-on systems engineer who can build the spacecraft and the payload end-to-end. The Role We are looking for a Satellite Systems Engineer who can design, build, integrate, and fly our first satellites — including the payload that defines our product. You will own the full spacecraft engineering lifecycle: bus selection and integration, payload design and build, subsystem trade studies, vendor reviews, environmental and functional testing, the launch campaign, and on-orbit commissioning. You will work directly with the CEO and CTO, lead the technical interface with our bus and component vendors, and be hands-on across mechanical, electrical, RF, thermal, ADCS, power, and communications subsystems. This is a founding engineering seat — small team, real spacecraft, fast cadence, and meaningful early-employee equity. You will see your work fly within your first 12 to 18 months. What You'll Own Satellite system design — lead bus and component selection, subsystem trade studies, and end-to-end satellite architecture for 6U and picosat-class spacecraft. Payload engineering — design and build the payload that defines our product (communications / IoT / PNT / data). Own the payload architecture, electronics, RF front-end, antenna integration, firmware, and payload-to-bus interfaces. Subsystem ownership — ADCS, power, thermal, structures, and comms. Run the budgets (mass, power, link, data) and keep them honest through the design cycle. Payload integration — integrate the payload with the satellite bus; own mechanical, electrical, thermal, and software interfaces. Vendor management — lead technical reviews with bus, component, and launch vendors. Read every datasheet. Push back when needed. Test & verification — plan and execute environmental testing (vibration, thermal vacuum, EMC), functional testing, and pre-ship reviews. Launch campaign — own the integration and launch campaign with our rideshare provider (SpaceX Transporter / Bandwagon via Exolaunch or equivalent). On-orbit operations — lead Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP), commissioning, and steady-state operations alongside the ground segment team. Documentation & reviews — system requirements, ICDs, PDR/CDR-style reviews, and the engineering record of the program. Who You Are Required 3+ years of hands-on spacecraft engineering experience. CubeSats, smallsats, or larger — you have personally been part of a program that put hardware on orbit. You have built a payload. You have personally designed, built, or integrated a satellite payload — communications, sensing, or scientific. You know how to take a payload from schematic to flight hardware. Systems engineering depth. You think in interfaces, margins, and failure modes. You can run a mass, power, link, and data budget and keep them aligned through the design cycle. Subsystem fluency. Working knowledge of ADCS, power (solar / battery / EPS), thermal, structures, and communications subsystems. You don't need to be an expert in all, but you can hold your own in a review for any. RF and link budget literacy. You can size a satellite-to-ground link, reason about modulation, coding, and antenna gain, and read an RF datasheet without flinching. Electronics & embedded. You can read a schematic, lay out a board (or work closely with someone who does), bring up hardware, and write or debug firmware on an MCU or SoC. Integration & test experience. You have personally been in the clean room or test facility for spacecraft integration, environmental testing, and pre-ship reviews. Vendor management. You have led technical conversations with commercial bus, component, or launch vendors and held them to schedule and spec. Hands-on builder. You can wire a harness, run a sim, debug a serial bus, and write a clean test procedure. You do not need a team of ten to make progress. Bachelor's or Master's degree in Aerospace, Electrical, Mechanical, Systems, or related engineering discipline — or equivalent shipping experience. Strongly Preferred Experience with commercial CubeSat bus vendors (6U and sub-6U platforms) and CubeSat deployers. Experience with SDR-based payloads (USRP, ADALM-Pluto, custom FPGA RF) and protocol stack development. Experience with AWS Ground Station, KSAT, Atlas Space, or other commercial ground networks. Experience with mission ops software, telemetry pipelines, or flight software development. Experience with spectrum coordination (ISED, FCC, or ITU) and orbital debris assessment. Familiarity with satellite IoT, satellite communications, navigation / PNT, or Earth observation systems. Prior startup or small-team experience — comfort owning ambiguous scope. What We're Not Looking For Engineers who have only worked on paper studies or simulations with no flight hardware experience. Specialists who are unwilling to work across subsystems or touch a payload. People who need a large team and a slow cadence to do their best work. What You Get Competitive cash salary — benchmarked to Canadian seed-stage space engineering market. Meaningful early-employee equity — you will be one of the first engineers on the cap table. Real spacecraft on orbit, fast — you will see your work fly within your first 12 to 18 months. Funded company — seed round closed; you walk into a real budget and real customer pipeline. Top-tier advisors and mentors — direct access to operators who have built billion-dollar space, defense, and data companies. Range and ownership — in a small team, you will touch every subsystem and every phase of the program, including the payload that defines our product. Location Vancouver, BC (preferred) — this is where the company is built and where integration happens. Open to hybrid for the right person, with regular on-site presence in Vancouver. Must be eligible to work in Canada (citizen, PR, or eligible for fast-track immigration — we will support relocation for the right person).