Junior Space Systems Engineer

About the role

Junior Space Systems Engineer Location: London, UK (on-site, Borough / London Bridge) Type: Full-time Level: Junior / early-career - ideal for someone coming off a graduate scheme, though exceptional recent graduates with strong project experience are very welcome Compensation: £35,000–£45,000 depending on experience, plus meaningful equity through our government-backed EMI scheme _____ We are Foundational We're an early-stage, mission-driven startup tackling one of the hardest and most exciting engineering challenges in the space domain: building the most precise understanding of space and Earth using ground-based lasers. Using satellite laser ranging (SLR) and space debris laser ranging (SDLR) data, we're giving the next generation of space companies exquisite orbital data - the foundation for resilient navigation, Earth observation, and precise space traffic control. This is essential infrastructure for the sustainability and resilience of the space domain, and we think it will be foundational to the future economy. Our network doesn't stop at the ground. To close the loop on precision, we're building the small optical payloads that fly on-orbit and talk back to our stations, and the systems engineering that ties ground, space, and data platform into one coherent whole. That's where you come in. The role This is a hands-on engineering role where the successful candidate will be as happy working in the lab as they are behind a computer. You'll work in our space team but may get involved in ground systems as well - helping to define what we build, model it, then get hands-on to build, test, and prove it. You'll see the full lifecycle: early concept and trade studies, through modelling and design, into integration, environmental test, and validation against our ground network. It's physics-first, hands-on work with a quick path from your bench to orbit. You'll sit in a small team of software and hardware engineers who don't draw hard lines between disciplines, and you'll be expected to cross those lines too. Specifically, you'll get stuck into: Systems engineering. Turning mission needs into requirements, interfaces, and budgets (mass, power, link, pointing, timing, error). Running trade studies and making the case for a design decision with numbers behind it. Modelling & analysis. Building performance models - radiometry and link budgets, atmospheric transmission, pointing and attitude, detection probability - and using them to drive real design choices rather than to decorate them. Design & build. Contributing to the design of small space-based payloads and ground subsystems: component selection, layout, tolerancing, and assembly of hardware and optical benches alongside our senior engineers. Integration, test & verification. Assembling and aligning hardware, then putting it through environmental qualification (thermal, vibration, vacuum) and performance characterisation - and learning first-hand what survives launch. Ground-to-space validation. Working with the ground systems team to validate ranging precision and pointing accuracy end-to-end, so the payload and the network behave as one system. Owning your corner. Documenting designs, feeding lessons into the next iteration, and taking real responsibility for a slice of the system as we grow. What we're looking for You don't need flight heritage or a decade of experience. We care far more about strong fundamentals, hunger, and the ability to learn fast in a hands-on environment. Essential A degree in space systems engineering, aerospace or mechanical or electrical engineering, physics, or a closely related field. Strong engineering and physics fundamentals, and the instinct to reach for a first-principles estimate before an opinion. Some practical engineering experience - a graduate scheme, internship, placement year, or a serious university project or competition team. What matters is that you've built something real and dealt with the consequences. Hands-on i

Skills