Staff Electro-Optical Payload Engineer

Remote: yes Posted: 2026-07-06

Staff Electro-Optical Payload Engineer

- Develop comprehensive integration, requirements verification, and test strategies for EO payloads.

- Develop and maintain optical and sensor test facilities.

- Test payloads and support the production team as they integrate your payloads onto satellites.

- Partner with engineering, program management, and production to ensure comprehensive and efficient end-to-end validation of payload test from plan through design and execution.

- Define requirements for and oversee the design and build of test Ground Support Equipment (GSE) and other test infrastructure for the payload.

- Support the development of new EO payload architectures and concepts.

- Simulate and analyses new sensors, designs, and/or phenomonologies to support R&D and technical strategy development.

- Develop optical system requirements associated with new designs.

- Provide technical assistance and oversight with design procurement and integration.

- Support the characterization and commissioning activities of orbital imaging systems.

- Evaluate on-orbit imaging systems performance, compare with your ground predictions, and evolve your test & performance prediction capabilities.

- Other job-related duties as assigned.

- At least 10 years of experience in technical engineering roles involving the specification, modeling, design, integration, and/or test of imaging or non-imaging optical systems and associated components/subsystems, particularly the testing of space-based optical systems.

- Bachelor's degree in optical engineering, physics, or other area of appropriate technical focus (or equivalent experience of four additional years).

- Hands-on laboratory experience and familiarity with typical optical test and meteorology instrumentation and practices, e.g., interferometers, theodolite/laser tracker, optical alignment.

- Proficiency in at least one computer language with an emphasis on numerical or technical computing.

- Strong technical grasp of the physics of optical image formation and associated detector phenomenology, especially in the visible and infrared spectra.

- Proficiency with radiometry, optical imaging and detection figures of merit, and optical system performance modeling/estimation/simulation.

- Adept with developing concise specifications for optical systems within a well-defined, systematic requirements framework.

- Familiarity with satellite/payload interface and CONOPs constraints and associated systems engineering.

- Due to program requirements, this position requires holding US citizenship.

- Post graduate degree in a relevant technical field.

- Direct experience in spaceborne optical remote sensing systems.

- Direct experience in focal plane array design and engineering.

- Direct experience in satellite radiometric, spatial, and spectral calibration.

- Proficiency with numerical and technical programming in Python.

- Familiarity and experience with a technical discipline complementary to optics, e.g., mechanical, thermal, electrical engineering.

Life at BlackSky for full-time US benefits eligible employees includes:

- Medical, dental, vision, disability, group term life and AD&D, voluntary life and AD&D insurance

- BlackSky pays 100% of employee-only premiums for medical, dental and vision and contributes $100/month for out-of-pocket expenses!

- 15 days of PTO, 11 Company holidays, four Floating Holidays (pro-rated based on hire date), one day of paid volunteerism leave per year, parental leave and more