Flight Software Systems Engineer

For those who dream of advancing our space in the Universe and on Earth, we will take you there.

Serving the world from our Canadian home and our global offices, MDA is an international space mission partner and robotics & space operations, satellite systems and geointelligence pioneer with a 50-year story of firsts on and above the Earth. Today, we are leading the charge towards viable Moon colonies, enhanced Earth observation, communication in a hyper-connected world, and more.

We are fueled by a pioneering spirit that carries us beyond. And together we enable highly skilled people to continually push boundaries and tackle big challenges requiring solutions that endure and inspire.

Are you ready to launch the next stage of your career in the new space economy? We would love to hear from you!

Role:

As part of a space mission team, you will work on a program such as CHORUS, a satellite constellation using Synthetic Aperture Radar to derive worldwide insights about our planet. You will work with other engineers in a multi-disciplinary team environment to establish the mission requirements and design, oversee and participate in vendor flight software development, participate in spacecraft and mission integration and testing, and achieve reliable operations.

Responsibilities:

As a Systems Engineer – Flight Software, you will have a wide range of responsibilities that may include:

• Providing software expertise to supplement other specialties (electrical, mechanical, operations etc.) in a mission team;

• Performing technical tasks, such as operational analyses and trade-off studies, to define requirements and design at mission, system, and subsystem levels;

• Creating and contributing to deliverable documents such as operational concepts, requirements specifications, interface control documents, and engineering plans;

• Presenting design proposals, plans, and reports in clear, complete, concise and non-ambiguous terms;

• Developing and/or reviewing flight software, subsystem, and spacecraft test plans and procedures;

• Participate as an integrated team member with vendor flight software development and Assembly, Integration and Test (AIT) teams;

• Integrating flight software with flight hardware, testing and troubleshooting;

• Formal acceptance testing of flight software;

• Supporting integration and verification activities of the overall Spacecraft, Ground Segment, and Mission;

• Frequent travel within Canada to vendor and MDA sites.

Required Skills and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Systems Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or an equivalent combination of education/experience;
• Minimum of 5 years of experience working with Flight Software;
• Development of one or more the following: spacecraft platform or payload flight software, mission critical software, embedded software;
• Development and/or use of Command and Control, Monitoring and Control, or Communications systems;
• Development of software with significant resource constraints (processor speed, memory, communication capacities limited relative to conventional host environments) ;
• Familiarity with real-time operating systems or kernels (commercial products or custom) ;
• Experience with spacecraft, bus (platform), or payload Assembly, Integration, and Testing;
• Requirements analysis, specification, and verification;
• Specification of interfaces, including but not limited to command and telemetry messaging;
• Estimation/analysis of resource budgets and Technical Performance Measures
• Trouble-shooting of complex systems;
• Data analysis and reduction;
• Have an understanding of different types of engineering lifecycle as applicable from large complex programs to software development;
• Familiarity with software development methodology
• Be able to work flexibly and manage multiple tasks in a dynamic environment;
• Have excellent verbal and written communication skills and customer interaction skills;
• Have a team-friendly attitude and willingness to learn.

While not mandatory, candidates will benefit from any of the following:

• Familiarity with CCSDS, ESA, and NASA standards
• Familiarity with data communication and storage security standards
• Experience with satellite operations
• Experience with radiation tolerant systems and mitigation of radiation effects on software execution and storage
• Experience developing or using spacecraft simulators
• Prior involvement in remote sensing, earth observation, space science, or space communications missions;

The compensation range for this position is $100,000 to $130,000 annually. The specific compensation offered will be based on the qualifications and experience of the successful candidate.