Senior Space Segment Architect

Are you ready to take your career to new heights At D-Orbit were pioneering the future of space logistics and transportation. Established in 2011 our company is leading the way in helping businesses profitably and sustainably unlock the full potential of the final frontier.

As a member of our team youll have the opportunity to work alongside a diverse group of highly skilled individuals all driven by a shared passion for innovation and excellence. Join us in our global mission to push the boundaries of whats possible and take your ambition to new heights. Apply now and join us in shaping the future of space.

The Senior Space Segment Architect plays a key role within the Business Unit Government & Defense acting as the technical authority responsible for the definition consolidation and evolution of the space segment architecture of complex institutional and defense missions.

The role requires strong systemlevel expertise and the ability to translate mission objectives customer needs and programmatic constraints into robust compliant and costeffective space segment solutions. The Senior Space Segment Architect operates across all mission phases from early concept and architectural tradeoffs to development verification and delivery interfacing closely with customers partners and multidisciplinary engineering teams.

The position further contributes to proposal activities and to the definition of product roadmaps and longterm development strategies ensuring alignment between market evolution institutional requirements and the companys technology and business objectives.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and lead the end-to-end space segment architecture for institutional government and defense space missions ensuring coherence across platform payload and space segment elements.
• Translate mission objectives and customer needs into consolidated space segment architectures including system budgets functional decomposition and interface definitions.
• Drive system-level trade-offs and architectural decisions considering performance cost schedule risk and program constraints.
• Define and maintain space segment requirements ensuring proper allocation to system and subsystem levels and full traceability across the lifecycle.
• Develop and control key system budgets (mass power data thermal pointing) ensuring consistency with mission requirements and design maturity.
• Coordinate interfaces between space segment ground segment and launch segment ensuring technical consistency and compatibility.
• Support project execution by providing architectural guidance during design AIT verification and validation phases.
• Lead and participate in system-level technical reviews and act as technical interface with customers partners and institutional stakeholders.
• Contribute to proposal and pre-sales activities by defining space segment concepts architectures development approaches and technical risk assessments.
• Contribute within the BU technical team to the definition of product system and technology roadmaps aligned with corporate strategy and market trends.

Skills & Qualifications

• Minimum 10 years of professional experience in space system engineering and space segment architecture roles.

• Proven experience in defining space segment architectures for institutional governmental or defense missions.

• Demonstrated experience covering the full development lifecycle of a satellite program from early mission phases (Phase 0/A/B) through detailed design AIT verification qualification and inorbit delivery.

• Direct experience on ESA and Institutional programs (e.g.: EO programs like Copernicus MoD programs) including familiarity with contractual frameworks technical governance and ECSS compliance processes.

• Ability to operate effectively within multistakeholder institutional environments interfacing with agencies prime contractors and international partners throughout the program lifecycle.

• Strong background in spacecraft system engineering including requirements management interfaces and system budgets.

• Solid knowledge of ECSS standards and familiarity with institutional program environments (ESA national agencies defense).

• Demonstrated ability to perform system-level trade-offs and manage technical complexity in multidisciplinary environments.

• Experience interfacing with ground and launch segments and with multiple industrial partners.

• Strong leadership and communication skills with the ability to engage customers and stakeholders at senior technical level.

• Experience in proposal preparation and early mission phase studies (Phase 0/A/B) is considered a strong asset.

• Good communication skills and willingness to operate in an international and institutional environment.

• Deep knowledge of AI tools.

Hiring Process:Heres how our hiring process workssimple and straightforward:

Application review: We go through all applications but well only reach out to candidates who closely match what were looking for.
If you dont hear from us it means were not moving forward with your application at this time but we may consider you profile for more aligned opening in the future!

First chat: Selected candidates will have an informal meeting with us so we can get to know each other and talk through mutual expectations and goals.

Technical interviews: Next youll have one or two technical interviews focused on your skills and how you approach challenges relevant to the role.

Offer: If all goes well well send you an offer! Sometimes this stage can take a bit of time as we like to carefully consider each candidate and make sure the fit with the team is just right.

We do our best to get back to everyone we interview but sometimes things take longer than wed like and updates might be a bit slow. If youve got any questions just reach out to us!

Were excited to get to know you and see if you might be the next person to help us reach new heights together!

Extra-UE applicants:

This is NOT a full remote job so you need VISA to work in Italy.
We can currently consider only applicants with an existing right to work in the country.
Some activities must be carried out in our facilities many others are location-independent and they can be performed effectively even remotely. This is why we dont measure the performance of people by how many hours they spend at the office: we only measure the outcome.

At D-Orbit diversity and inclusivity are not just values they are integral to our mission and the way we operate. We are committed to fostering an environment where all individuals are respected valued and celebrated for their unique backgrounds perspectives and experiences. We believe that a diverse and inclusive workplace is not only the right thing to do but it also leads to better decision making innovation and overall success. We actively strive to build a culture where everyone can bring their authentic selves to work and where all voices are heard and valued. We are dedicated to creating a workplace where everyone feels safe supported and empowered to share their ideas and where everyone is given equal opportunities to grow and excel. We believe that our differences make us stronger and we will continue to work diligently to create an inclusive culture at D-Orbit that reflects this belief.