Senior Launch Operations Engineer (m/f/d)

Isar Aerospace

Mission Brief As a Recovery Operations Engineer in the Reusability Program, you define and mature the CONOPS for post‑flight recovery, refurbishment, and return‑to‑flight of reusable launch vehicle elements. You enable safe, repeatable, and cost‑efficient reuse by embedding recovery and refurbishment considerations into vehicle design, ground operations, and long‑term fleet operability from the outset.  Your Role in Our Space Mission * Define and evolve recovery Concept of Operations (CONOPS), covering primary recovery scenarios as well as fallback scenarios, from landing through return‑to‑flight * Evaluate and down‑select launch sites, landing zones, and ranges with respect to recovery feasibility, safety, and operations * Specify and assess recovery ground support equipment (GSE), including cranes, transport frames, barges, and port infrastructure * Define refurbishment and recycle processes, including inspection flows, repair scope, turnaround timelines, and reuse limits * Drive maintainability and operability requirements into vehicle and system design * Support integration and payload processing concepts where recovery impacts launch‑site operations * Contribute to fleet and lifecycle management strategies, including inspection intervals and retirement criteria * Develop and maintain operational cost models, including recovery, refurbishment, infrastructure, and reuse cost functions, and support cost estimation and trade studies to inform architectural and program‑level decisions  Qualification Checklist  Education & Technical Background  * Engineering education in aerospace, mechanical, civil, naval, industrial, or a closely related field, or equivalent senior industry experience  * Technical background in launcher ground operations plus recovery and refurbishment concepts for reusable launch vehicle hardware  * Proven knowledge of transport, handling, lifting, storage, inspection, and repair of large aerospace hardware and associated ground support equipment * Proven knowledge of large‑scale logistics and ground infrastructure as primary drivers of operability, cost, and turnaround time in a reusable launch vehicle fleet  Experience  * 5–10+ years in launch vehicle programs, recovery programs, or large‑scale aerospace hardware projects * Direct involvement in designing and evaluating end‑to‑end CONOPS, covering recovery logistics, ground support equipment, refurbishment, maintainability, and return‑to‑flight * Practical work with large ground support equipment and infrastructure, including recovery assets, lifting systems, transport solutions, hazardous substances supply systems and launch-site or port environments * Hands-on exposure to launch vehicle or aircraft refurbishment and post‑operation processing, including inspection strategies, repair scope definition, structural and systems assessments, and reuse or return‑to‑service considerations. * Demonstrated ability to assess how recovery and ground operations concepts drive launcher architecture, interfaces, access requirements, and design margins * Proven involvement in operational trade studies, addressing feasibility, cost drivers, turnaround time, and risk across alternative recovery and refurbishment approaches Skills & Competencies  * Ability to architect recovery and refurbishment CONOPS that are technically executable and scale with fleet growth  * Strong judgement balancing launcher design, ground support equipment capability, logistics constraints, safety, cost, and schedule * Deep practical knowledge of ground support equipment-driven constraints and their impact on recovery methods and launcher interfaces * Clear command of maintainability and refurbishment drivers, including access, wear mechanisms, handling damage, and inspection effort * Capability to challenge launcher and ground design decisions based on operational realism rather than theoretical optimization * Structured decision‑making under uncertainty, grounded in experience with real hardware, infrastructure, and field operations * Fluent in English (German is a plus)  Benefits  * Employee Participation Program: Share in our success through our virtual company share program * 30 days of vacation: Enjoy the days off to relax and recharge * Company pension plan: Secure your future with our company pension plan, featuring a 20% employer contribution after the probation period * Subsidised lunch: Stay energised with delicious, subsidised lunches every day * Public transport ticket: Commute with ease using a fully financed Deutschlandticket * Sport Clubs membership: Stay fit with our sponsored sports club memberships (EGYM Wellpass) * Individual learning allowance: Grow your skills with an individual learning budget granted after the probation period * Childcare allowance: Receive a childcare allowance for your non-school-age children * And Much More! Discover additional perks and benefits when you join our team         Who we are We are Isar Aerospace and we are at the forefront of New Space building a modern space business to enable faster, better and cheaper access to space. Our mission is to help democratise space and use it for good in order to improve life on Earth now and for the future generations. We are a fast-growing company aiming to provide sustainable and environmentally friendly launch solutions for small and medium-sized satellites and constellations into Low Earth Orbit. The company is privately funded by world-leading technology investors with strong commitment and support and our team is made of driven and talented people with a real passion for space innovation. We're making rockets in a way that hasn't been done before disrupting a traditional industry. If you are up for the challenge, want to work on cutting-edge projects and be part of a team changing the world for better, come, join us and launch your career! Want to find out more about us? Visit www.isaraerospace.com   Data Protection We process your personal data for the purpose of managing the recruitment process and assessing your application. For detailed information on how your data is processed, including your rights, please refer to our Privacy Policy. Disclaimer Isar Aerospace SE is an equal-opportunity employer committed to fairness and inclusivity. We do not prioritize any specific religion, gender, nationality, or background. Due to security clearance requirements, affiliations with countries listed under § 13 para. 1 no. 17 SÜG may affect the application process. All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply. We use Metaview to record interview audio so our team can review it later and stay focused during the conversation. We will record interviews only if you opt in. Please note that we will request your consent separately during the interview process. Participation is completely voluntary and will not affect your application in any way. For more information on how we process your personal data, please see our Privacy Policy.

Isar Aerospace

Mission Brief  You will be responsible for defining the thermal environment and architecture of the vehicle, ranging from detailed thermal modeling and system level coupled loads analyses and to active and passive thermal control design. You will be in charge of the development, execution, and correlation of thermal models using FEM/FDM/FVM tools and test data. The decisions you make will directly support hardware qualification, test planning, and system-level design choices, ultimately enhancing the thermal robustness, performance, and reliability of the vehicle throughout its mission. Your Role in Our Space Mission:  * Own the vehicle-level thermal architecture, including active and passive thermal control design for the avionic components and payloads * Perform Thermal Coupled Loads Analysis and develop detailed thermal models using FEM and/or FVM, FDM methods * Develop, execute, and correlate thermal models using tools such as SIMCenter, STAR-CCM+ and Thermal Desktop supported by component tests and flight data * Review, assess, and approve component- and assembly-level designs for thermal flight readiness * Create and maintain specifications and design documentation such as Fluid Plans, Test Plans and Procedures, Test and Analysis Reports, Instrumentation Plans, Work Instructions etc. * Develop tools, workflows, and standards to improve efficiency, consistency, and repeatability across thermal engineering activities * Support integration, test, and launch-site operations as subject-matter expert on system thermal performance * Support with your expertise other technical departments   Qualification Checklist    * Degree in the field of Aerospace of Mechanical Engineering, or similar * 8+ years of relevant experience in the field of aerospace and thermal * Experience with thermal simulation tools (e.g. ANSYS, SIMCenter, Thermal Desktop) * Experience with coding (e.g. Python, MATLAB) * Holistic perspective on development of systems  * Highly organized and proactive with high attention to detail  * Good communication and organizational skills  * Fluent in English  Bonus Skills * Experience with environmental control system design * German language skills Benefits  * Employee Participation Program: Share in our success through our virtual company share program * 30 days of vacation: Enjoy the days off to relax and recharge * Company pension plan: Secure your future with our company pension plan, featuring a 20% employer contribution after the probation period * Subsidised lunch: Stay energised with delicious, subsidised lunches every day * Public transport ticket: Commute with ease using a fully financed Deutschlandticket * Sport Clubs membership: Stay fit with our sponsored sports club memberships (EGYM Wellpass) * Individual learning allowance: Grow your skills with an individual learning budget granted after the probation period * Childcare allowance: Receive a childcare allowance for your non-school-age children * And Much More! Discover additional perks and benefits when you join our team         Who we are We are Isar Aerospace and we are at the forefront of New Space building a modern space business to enable faster, better and cheaper access to space. Our mission is to help democratise space and use it for good in order to improve life on Earth now and for the future generations. We are a fast-growing company aiming to provide sustainable and environmentally friendly launch solutions for small and medium-sized satellites and constellations into Low Earth Orbit. The company is privately funded by world-leading technology investors with strong commitment and support and our team is made of driven and talented people with a real passion for space innovation. We're making rockets in a way that hasn't been done before disrupting a traditional industry. If you are up for the challenge, want to work on cutting-edge projects and be part of a team changing the world for better, come, join us and launch your career! Want to find out more about us? Visit www.isaraerospace.com Data Protection We process your personal data for the purpose of managing the recruitment process and assessing your application. For detailed information on how your data is processed, including your rights, please refer to our Privacy Policy. Disclaimer Isar Aerospace SE is an equal-opportunity employer committed to fairness and inclusivity. We do not prioritize any specific religion, gender, nationality, or background. Due to security clearance requirements, affiliations with countries listed under § 13 para. 1 no. 17 SÜG may affect the application process. All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply. We use Metaview to record interview audio so our team can review it later and stay focused during the conversation. We will record interviews only if you opt in. Please note that we will request your consent separately during the interview process. Participation is completely voluntary and will not affect your application in any way. For more information on how we process your personal data, please see our Privacy Policy

Isar Aerospace

Mission Brief  Join the Avionics Department at Isar, within the Electrical Engineering Team responsible for high‑reliability hardware design of PCBAs and Avionics Units that are the backbone of our Spectrum Launch Vehicle. As a Senior Avionics Engineer, you will provide direct contribution to our technology stack and take responsibility for critical Avionics units: driving them through their entire lifecycle from early concept, to detailed design, qualification, and all the way to successful on-orbit operations in Space. The ideal candidate is someone with deep technical expertise in Electrical and Electronics engineering who thrives in a fast-moving environment. Preference will be given to those with the ability to make sound technical decisions, able to raise the bar for engineering quality, and the ability to provide technical mentorship to other Engineers along the way. Your Role in Our Space Mission:  * Take on ownership of at least one high-reliability Avionics Unit * Own all interfaces of your product across its lifecycle, from design to manufacturing to verification and integration, including all technical and programmatic interfaces * Carry out the full Electrical design cycle for PCBAs including component selection, schematic capture, layout and design verification * Take on Unit level tasks for your products including requirement management, design, reliability analyses, qualification & acceptance testing, as well as troubleshooting analysis * Conduct design reviews for your products and participate in system level design reviews * Plan, execute, and evaluate verification, acceptance, and qualification tests at unit, subsystem, and vehicle level * Develop test procedures and automated scripts for verifying unit functional and electrical performance under harsh operating conditions, such as thermal, vacuum, and vibration * Capture interface requirements and design specifications for test equipment used in test campaigns of your products * Actively participate in Integrated Testing & Flight Data reviews * Collaborate on ad-hoc tasks related to Avionics PCBAs, Units and, Systems with your peers in the Avionics department * Provide ad-hoc mentoring to other Engineers in a constructive manner Qualification Checklist  * BSc/MSc in Electrical Engineering, Energy Science and Technology or comparable * 5+ years of working experience with complex PCBs and electronics * 2+ years of working experience within a high-reliability industry, such as Aerospace, Medical, or Automotive * Extensive experience with complex electronics and circuit theory for embedded, power electronics, analog interfaces, and logic * Extensive experience in E-CAD tools (Schematic & Layout Design), preferably Altium Designer * Extensive Experience in simulation tools such as PSpice, LTspice, Altium Simulation, or Simulink * Experience in hands-on testing and verification of design functionality and performance * Experience with international or external product standards, regulations, or requirements, such as ISO/ANSI/AEC/MIL or similar * Experience with core product analyses and tools such as Failure Modes and Effects Analyses, Reliability (MTBF), Fault Tree, Ishikawa (Fish-Bone), or similar * Experience in Design for Test and Design for Manufacture concepts * Experience with Electrical Test and Measurement equipment * Hands-On mentality, can-do attitude * Fluent in spoken and written English Bonus Skills: * Previous product ownership * Experience in interacting with external certification or regulatory agencies for product compliance * Experience in programming languages such as Python or Matlab for task automation and data analysis * Experience in mechanical design tools such as Solidworks, NX, OnShape, or similar Benefits  * Employee Participation Program: Share in our success through our virtual company share program * 30 days of vacation: Enjoy the days off to relax and recharge * Company pension plan: Secure your future with our company pension plan, featuring a 20% employer contribution after the probation period * Subsidised lunch: Stay energised with delicious, subsidised lunches every day * Public transport ticket: Commute with ease using a fully financed Deutschlandticket * Sport Clubs membership: Stay fit with our sponsored sports club memberships (EGYM Wellpass) * Individual learning allowance: Grow your skills with an individual learning budget granted after the probation period * Childcare allowance: Receive a childcare allowance for your non-school-age children * And Much More! Discover additional perks and benefits when you join our team         Who we are We are Isar Aerospace and we are at the forefront of New Space building a modern space business to enable faster, better and cheaper access to space. Our mission is to help democratise space and use it for good in order to improve life on Earth now and for the future generations. We are a fast-growing company aiming to provide sustainable and environmentally friendly launch solutions for small and medium-sized satellites and constellations into Low Earth Orbit. The company is privately funded by world-leading technology investors with strong commitment and support and our team is made of driven and talented people with a real passion for space innovation. We're making rockets in a way that hasn't been done before disrupting a traditional industry. If you are up for the challenge, want to work on cutting-edge projects and be part of a team changing the world for better, come, join us and launch your career! Want to find out more about us? Visit www.isaraerospace.com   Data Protection We process your personal data for the purpose of managing the recruitment process and assessing your application. For detailed information on how your data is processed, including your rights, please refer to our Privacy Policy. Disclaimer Isar Aerospace SE is an equal-opportunity employer committed to fairness and inclusivity. We do not prioritize any specific religion, gender, nationality, or background. Due to security clearance requirements, affiliations with countries listed under § 13 para. 1 no. 17 SÜG may affect the application process. All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply. We use Metaview to record interview audio so our team can review it later and stay focused during the conversation. We will record interviews only if you opt in. Please note that we will request your consent separately during the interview process. Participation is completely voluntary and will not affect your application in any way. For more information on how we process your personal data, please see our Privacy Policy.