Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer (CTO) 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 building the next generation of orbital infrastructure — satellites, ground systems, and the software/data layer on top. Our focus spans satellite platforms, global connectivity, navigation (PNT), edge AI, on-orbit compute, and space-native data services — the foundational building blocks of the commercial space economy. We believe the next decade of value in space will be created at the intersection of hardware on orbit and intelligence on orbit, and we are positioning Canada to lead it.
This is a generational opportunity to build a Canadian SpaceX-class company from the ground floor.
The Role
We are looking for our Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer — the person who will own the end-to-end technical architecture of Player One Space: from satellite design, payloads, and on-orbit operations, to ground stations, RF links, edge AI, on-orbit compute, and the data platform that runs across it all.
You will partner directly with the CEO as a co-founder, set the technical vision, recruit the founding engineering team, and personally lead the design and delivery of our first satellites on orbit. You will be the technical face of the company to investors, government partners, launch providers, and customers.
This is not a hire — this is a co-founder seat. You will own meaningful equity, a competitive salary, and an options package designed to make you a long-term builder of this company.
What You'll Own
Satellite system architecture — buses, payloads, ADCS, power, thermal, comms. Lead trade studies, vendor selection, and integration.
Connectivity & RF design — link budgets, modulation, protocol stacks, spectrum coordination (ISED / ITU), and the full ground-to-space-to-edge architecture.
Edge AI & on-orbit compute — define how compute, inference, and autonomy run on the satellite itself, at the ground edge, and across the constellation.
Ground segment — ground station strategy (owned / AWS Ground Station / partner), mission operations, and telemetry pipelines.
Edge hardware & terminals — design and integration of ground terminals, payload sensors, and edge devices that talk to our constellation.
Engineering team — hire and lead the founding satellite, embedded, AI, and software engineers. Build the technical culture.
Technical roadmap — own the path from first demonstration satellite → operational constellation → global service across multiple product lines.
Regulatory & standards — work with ISED, FCC, ITU, and allied regulators on licensing, frequency coordination, and orbital debris compliance.
Investor & partner technical narrative — co-lead diligence sessions and technical deep dives with VCs, strategic partners, and customers.
Who You Are
Required
Systems engineer by trade. You think in interfaces, budgets, margins, and failure modes. You have personally led the design of complex space systems end-to-end.
You have built and flown satellites. CubeSats, smallsats, or larger — you have hardware on orbit (or have led programs that put hardware on orbit). You know what breaks, what survives, and what the vendors will and won't tell you.
Deep expertise in satellite design — buses, payloads, ADCS, power, thermal, comms subsystems. You can walk into a vendor review and run it.
Networking & RF fluency — you understand satellite-to-ground link design, modulation/coding, spectrum, and protocol stacks across modern LEO connectivity standards. You can size a link budget on a napkin.
Ground station experience — you have operated or designed ground segments, whether owned, AWS Ground Station, or partner networks. You understand pass planning, scheduling, and mission ops.
Edge hardware / terminal integration — you have built or integrated edge devices, ground terminals, or payload sensors that talk to a constellation.
Edge AI & on-orbit compute awareness — you understand where compute belongs (satellite, edge, ground, cloud), and how AI/ML workloads run under power, thermal, and link constraints. Hands-on experience here is a plus.
Awareness of the space industry — companies, vendors, launch providers, regulators, standards bodies. You know who's real, who's vapor, and who to call.
Builder, not a manager-only. You can still open a schematic, write firmware, run a sim, or debug a packet trace when the team needs it.
Co-founder mentality. You want to own this, not be a senior hire at someone else's company.
Strongly Preferred
Experience in Canadian or allied space programs (CSA, DND, ESA, NASA, DARPA, NORAD-adjacent).
Prior founder or founding-engineer experience at a space, hardware, or deep-tech startup.
Familiarity with LEO connectivity, satellite communications, navigation / PNT, Earth observation, edge AI, or on-orbit compute markets and technologies.
Published work, patents, or recognized contributions in spacecraft engineering, RF systems, or space networking.
Graduate degree in Aerospace, Electrical, Systems, or related engineering discipline.
What We're Not Looking For
Pure researchers without shipping/flight experience.
Pure managers who haven't done the engineering themselves.
Generalist software CTOs without spacecraft hardware background.
What You Get
Co-founder equity — meaningful, vested, with founder-grade terms.
Competitive cash salary — calibrated to seed-stage market for a Canadian space co-founder, with a clear path up on Series A.
Stock options package — additional options on top of co-founder equity.
Seed round already closed — you walk into a funded company, not a slide deck.
Top-tier backers, advisors, and mentors — direct access to operators who have built billion-dollar space, defense, and data companies.
Real customers and contracts in the pipeline — commercial, government, and defense.
A genuine shot at building a global Canadian space champion — the kind of company that gets written about in twenty years.
Location
Vancouver, BC (preferred) — this is where the company is built.
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).
How to Apply
Email dima@playeronespace.com with:
Your CV or LinkedIn.
A short note (a few paragraphs) on what you have built and flown, and why Player One Space.
Links to anything you're proud of — papers, patents, missions, GitHub, talks.
We read every application personally. If there is a fit, you will hear back within a week.
Player One Space — Building the next great space company out of Canada.