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Mission Architect (Staff-level)

Impulse· Business Development
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Redondo Beach$175k - $205kFull-timePosted 5d ago

About the role

Define and formalize mission-level requirements and analytical foundations for early-system concepts, bridging Business Development, AMCEs, and Engineering to transform vague customer inputs into quantitative mission requirements and defensible analyses before vehicle/system concept formulation.

Responsibilities

  • Lead mission-level analysis across payloads, constellations, ground systems, C2, cyber, and operational context to define mission success criteria and performance thresholds
  • Convert vague customer desires into quantitative “small-r” requirements that guide downstream conceptual design
  • Develop and employ mission-level modeling and simulation tools for coverage analysis, NIIRS scoring, gap times, latency modeling, mission availability, constellation behavior, and resilience assessments
  • Produce derived requirements for mission elements such as sensitivity, ΔV envelopes, timeline constraints, communications/latency performance, revisit and coverage metrics, and payload-specific performance parameters
  • Partner with AMCEs to evaluate conceptual solutions against mission requirements; assess mission impact of engineering-driven tradeoffs, cost reductions, replenishment strategies, or performance adjustments
  • Act as the mission architecting lead during early capture phases — shaping mission definitions, requirement frameworks, evaluation criteria, and success metrics before vehicle or system concept formulation
  • Support Business Development by generating mission-analysis content for white papers, BAAs, RFIs, challenge submissions, and requirements-shaping discussions with government customers and FFRDC/UARC partners
  • Conduct red-team-style assessments to identify mission weaknesses, operational risks, adversary constraints, and system-of-systems considerations that influence requirement prioritization
  • Ensure mission architectures incorporate realistic operational constraints such as ground station availability, crosslink integration, cyber/hardening implications, adversary counters, and resilience needs
  • Build reusable mission-analysis models and tools so requirements development compounds rather than restarts with each pursuit
  • Work with industry and government partners on analysis frameworks, tools, scenarios, and execution of mission analyses

Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s degree in a technical field
  • 8+ years of demonstrated experience in aerospace, defense, or intelligence community experience in mission analysis, system-of-systems engineering, or operational modeling
  • Demonstrated ability to derive quantitative mission requirements from ambiguous or incomplete customer inputs
  • Proficiency with mission-level modeling tools (e.g., STK, AGI Analysis Workbench, EO/IR performance tools) and scripting languages (Python, MATLAB)
  • Familiarity with payload performance modeling, constellation analysis, ground segment architectures, C2 systems, and cyber considerations
  • Strong technical writing skills for mission analysis reports, concept studies, and requirements derivation documents
  • Eligibility for a U.S. security clearance; ability to obtain TS/SCI

Skills

Required:Mission-level problem framing and requirements derivationMission-level modeling and simulationTechnical writing for mission analysis

Benefits

  • In addition to base salary, for full-time hires, you may also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of stock options, and access to medical, vision & dental coverage as well as access to a 401(k) retirement plan
  • ITAR/EAR compliance transparency and related requirements
Last updated Oct 22, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About Impulse

Accelerating our future beyond Earth

Accelerating our future beyond Earth

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