System Safety & Risk Assurance Engineer (Contract)

About the Role

This is a contract role. In this position, you will evaluate off-nominal conditions, influence spacecraft architecture, and drive system-level trades across performance, mass, safety, and reliability. You will ensure our modular structures and pressurized spacecraft meet the rigorous criteria required for human-rated flight profiles and government/commercial space program delivery.

Responsibilities

• Lead and support spacecraft system safety assessments, including Functional Hazard Assessments (FHA), Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), and Failure Modes, Effects, and Criticality Analysis (FMECA).
• Own hazard analysis and safety compliance for high-pressure systems, structures/mechanisms, and Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) required for human habitation.
• Develop and refine fault-protection concepts including fault detection, isolation, containment, recovery, safing, and mission-recovery strategies across flight software, avionics, and operational segments.
• Collaborate with Chief Engineers, Manufacturing, and Integration & Test teams to translate safety and mission assurance objectives into verifiable technical requirements.
• Define and execute verification plans for hazard controls and fault-protection requirements through hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing, simulations, and fault injection.
• Lead or participate in Failure Review Boards (FRBs), analyzing testing anomalies, waivers, deviations, and operational constraints for safety and mission impacts.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical, Systems Engineering, or a related technical STEM field.
• 5+ years of direct experience in systems engineering, system safety, reliability engineering, or mission assurance within space system development.
• Deep technical understanding of structural integrity, pressure vessels, leak paths, or human-rating safety frameworks (e.g., NASA-STD-8719.13 or military range requirements).
• Comfortable navigating technical ambiguity, balancing engineering rigor with rapid product manufacturing and testing cadences.
• Must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual to conform to U.S. space technology export regulations (ITAR/EAR).

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience with life-support (ECLSS) systems, active thermal loops, or human-tended space station docking mechanisms.
• Familiarity with requirements and engineering configuration tracking systems (e.g., Jama, Jira, Confluence, or NX/Simcenter environment pipelines).
• Direct experience handling commercial launch licensing approvals (FAA-AST) or working alongside commercial space station operators (e.g., Axiom Space, U.S. Space Force).

Travel Requirements

This position requires approximately 10–20% travel to support business needs, including visits to company facilities, customer sites, industry events, and team meetings. Travel frequency may vary based on business priorities and project requirements.

Pay

Salary Range: $65 USD - $90 USD

Benefits

This position will initially be engaged as a contract (1099) role, with the opportunity to transition to a regular full-time employee based on business needs and performance. Upon successful conversion to full-time employment, the selected candidate may become eligible for Gravitics' comprehensive employee benefits package, which includes company equity, medical benefits, a 401(k) retirement plan, and other employee programs, subject to applicable plan terms and company policies.