About this opportunity
EVONA lists this Founding CTO - Spacecraft opportunity in el segundo, California. Review the employer’s description below for duties, qualifications and application requirements.
Job description
Type: Full-time
Stage: Venture-backed early-stage space company
We are working with a well-funded space technology startup developing next-generation autonomous laboratories and payload systems for low Earth orbit. With paying customers, significant funding and flight hardware already in development, the company is now looking for a Founding CTO to take technical ownership of the business as it moves from early development into flight and scale.
This is not a traditional executive CTO position.
We are looking for an exceptional hands-on spacecraft engineer and technical leader who has spent their career designing, building, testing and delivering real flight hardware and is ready to make the step into company-level technical leadership.
You might currently be a Lead Engineer, Principal Engineer, Vehicle Lead, Deputy Chief Engineer or Chief Engineer within a high-performing NewSpace organisation.
What you'll do
Own the overall technical architecture and engineering direction of the company's spacecraft and orbital laboratory platform.
Remain deeply involved in engineering, particularly during the company's next phase of spacecraft development, test and flight.
Lead technical decisions and trades across structures, thermal, avionics, power, GNC, software, payloads and spacecraft integration.
Drive hardware from concept and requirements through design, build, qualification, integration, launch and operations.
Build and develop a multidisciplinary engineering organisation as the company scales.
Establish the engineering processes required to move quickly without compromising mission success.
Work directly with the CEO on product roadmap, technical strategy and major company decisions.
Grow into the external responsibilities of a CTO, representing the technology to customers, partners and investors.
What we're looking for
Approximately 8–15+ years of spacecraft, launch vehicle or complex flight-hardware engineering experience.
A track record of personally designing and delivering flight hardware, rather than purely managing engineering teams.
Experience taking hardware through multiple stages of the lifecycle: design, analysis, manufacturing, integration, qualification/test and flight.
Strong systems thinking and the ability to make technical decisions beyond a single engineering discipline.
Experience working across multiple spacecraft or vehicle subsystems and resolving complex multidisciplinary engineering problems.
Experience within a fast-moving NewSpace, launch, satellite or similarly hardware-intensive environment.
Technical leadership experience, whether through leading engineers, owning a major vehicle/system or acting as the technical authority for critical hardware.
The ambition and communication ability to grow from an outstanding engineering leader into a credible customer, investor and executive-facing CTO.
What matters most
We're not looking for someone who has already spent years as a career CTO.
We're looking for someone who can point to spacecraft or flight hardware and say:
“I helped design that. I built it. I tested it. I got it to flight.”
You should still want to be close to the engineering, enjoy solving difficult hardware problems and have the potential to become the technical face of a rapidly scaling space company.
This is an opportunity to make the jump from technical engineering leadership into a founding executive role, with meaningful ownership and the ability to shape both the spacecraft and the company around it.
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Worksite address
el segundo, CA, 90245, US
Who can apply
Review the original listing for work authorization, qualifications and employer requirements.