Satellite Systems Engineer (m/w/d), Space & Defense Industry

About the Company Infinite Orbits GmbH is the German subsidiary of Infinite Orbits SAS, a NewSpace company founded in 2017 that now has more than 200 employees, with locations including Luxembourg, the UK, Spain, and Singapore. The company develops in-orbit servicing solutions built on its own autonomous Rendezvous and Proximity Operations (RPO) technology, spanning awareness, surveillance, inspection, and protection of space assets through to life extension. With its newly established Munich site, Infinite Orbits builds a dedicated local presence in Germany, developing capabilities in business development, R&D, product development, system engineering, production, and mission operations to enable Europe's defense and space sector. Infinite Orbits is looking for the founding team for its Munich site. Candidates who bring entrepreneurial drive, thrive in ambiguity, want ownership over what they build, and want to make a real difference in space are invited to explore the open positions on the company's website. Job Description About the Role As Satellite Systems Engineer, you own the spacecraft. You turn the agreed mission concept into a buildable, verifiable spacecraft solution covering platform, payload, and their interfaces, drawing on the Infinite Orbits Group's platforms and on German suppliers and partners. Proposal preparation is a core part of this role: you author the spacecraft design sections of Infinite Orbits Germany's bids, RFI/RFP responses, and funding applications. You substantiate sizing, heritage, and maturity, consolidate supplier input, and make sure that what we offer can be built, verified, and delivered within the cost and schedule we commit to. You work hand in hand with the Mission Systems Engineer, who owns the mission concept, and the Proposal & Project Manager, who runs the proposal process. Once contracts are won, you carry the spacecraft design through reviews, verification, and integration, and you help build up spacecraft engineering and integration capability in Munich as our German hardware content grows. • Spacecraft proposal content: Author the spacecraft design sections of RFI/RFP responses, customer proposals, and national and European funding applications, covering configuration, subsystem and payload selection, spacecraft budgets, heritage and maturity (TRL) justification, compliance, and technical risks. • Cost & schedule input for bids: Provide the Proposal & Project Manager with the technical basis for proposal cost and schedule, including make-or-buy decisions, supplier selection, procurement lead times, and verification and integration effort. • Supplier & partner input: Request, assess, and consolidate technical offers from suppliers and partners into a coherent proposal baseline. • Spacecraft requirements & budgets: Own spacecraft-level requirements derived from the mission baseline and manage spacecraft budgets (mass, power, thermal, link, pointing, propellant) through design and delivery. • Interfaces & integration: Define and manage platform, payload, and subsystem interfaces (ICDs), including the integration of payloads and subsystems from German partners. • Design reviews & verification: Prepare spacecraft design reviews and own verification and test planning at spacecraft level. • Project execution: Own spacecraft engineering workstreams on won contracts, ensuring delivery against technical and contractual requirements. • Group coordination: Work closely with platform engineering in Toulouse and other Group entities to reuse existing designs and keep the spacecraft baseline consistent across the Group. • Capability build-up: Support the build-up of spacecraft integration and verification capability in Germany as the German hardware share grows. Requirements Education & Experience • Engineering degree in aerospace, space systems engineering, or a related field, or equivalent. • 3+ years of experience in spacecraft systems engineering, ideally at platform, prime, or integrator level. • Experience contributing spacecraft design, cost, or schedule content to technical proposals in the space or defense sector. • Experience with spacecraft integration, verification, or AIT is a plus. Skills & Other Requirements • Strong command of spacecraft subsystems and their interactions (AOCS/GNC, power, thermal, propulsion, communications, structures, data handling). • Working knowledge of ECSS standards and spacecraft verification approaches. • Ability to size and defend spacecraft solutions, including heritage and maturity claims, under customer or stakeholder scrutiny. • Excellent structured writing: able to turn design work into clear, compliant proposal content under deadline pressure. • Experience working with suppliers and partners on technical offers and interface definitions. • Autonomy and ownership: comfortable owning workstreams independently in an early-stage, cross-border team environment, working closely with Group entities in France and beyond. • Fluent in German and English. • Willingness to undergo a German security clearance procedure (Sicherheitsüberprüfung). • Frequent travel required within Germany and to Infinite Orbits' HQ in Toulouse and other European locations. What we offer • A founding technical role with direct ownership of spacecraft design and proposal content in a growing European space and defense company. • Direct influence on how Infinite Orbits builds spacecraft engineering and integration capability in Germany, in close collaboration with the Infinite Orbits Group. We are looking forward to your application! Find more English Speaking Jobs in Germany on Arbeitnow