Senior Systems Engineer, Flight Safety

About the role

Varda is seeking a Senior Systems Engineer to serve as the primary architect for mission safety and reentry compliance. You will join our Mission Assurance team, leading the development of the Flight Safety Analysis and the regulatory strategy required for FAA Part 450 and Range Safety licensing. This role is highly cross-functional, bridging engineering trades with regulatory approval.

Responsibilities

• Own the technical regulatory strategy, Means of Compliance, and safety cases for FAA launch and reentry authorizations.
• Own vehicle-level functional hazard analyses (FHA) and failure mode and effect analyses (FMEA).
• Maintain Expected Casualty and debris risk models to ensure all mission phases meet regulatory safety thresholds.
• Establish technical safety limits and mission rules for real-time on-console operations.
• Responsible for vehicle-level deliverables to regulatory organizations, in the service of mission reentry licenses and authorizations.
• Act as the Flight Safety responsible engineer during mission rehearsals and live recovery operations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in aerospace, mechanical, electrical, manufacturing, systems engineering or related field.
• Minimum 5 years of relevant aerospace engineering experience, with a previous role involving mission assurance, flight safety, or a senior systems engineering role.
• Demonstrated experience with FAA Part 450, expected casualty modeling, trajectory dispersion, and/or debris analysis.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to influence cross-functional teams and present to executives/customers/regulators.
• Strong experience with risk management methodologies and tools (FMEA, FHA, Fault Tree Analysis).
• Experience with integration of interdisciplinary systems in the aerospace industry.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Demonstrated safety critical mission operations in aviation or space applications.
• Proven experience navigating the FCC Part 25 (Commercial) or Part 5 (Experimental) licensing process, for satellite and reentry communications.
• Dedicated to adopting a lean approach to quality without compromising safety or reliability.