K2 is building the largest and highest-power satellites ever flown, unlocking performance levels previously out of reach across every orbit. Backed by over $1 billion in total funding from leading investors including Altimeter Capital, ICONIQ, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures, and T. Rowe Price — and with over $1 billion in signed contracts across commercial and US government customers, we're mass-producing the highest-power satellite platforms ever built for missions from LEO to deep space.

The rise of heavy-lift launch vehicles is shifting the industry from an era of mass constraint to one of mass abundance, and we believe this new era demands a fundamentally different class of spacecraft. Engineered to survive the harshest radiation environments and to fully capitalize on today's and tomorrow's massive rockets, K2 satellites deliver unmatched capability at constellation scale and across multiple orbits.

With multiple launches in 2027 and plans to scale to 100 satellites a year, we're Building Bigger — helping develop the solar system and build toward a Kardashev Type II (K2) civilization. If you are a motivated individual who thrives in a fast-paced environment and you're excited about contributing to the success of a high-growth Series D-funded company, we'd love for you to apply.

The Role

As a Mission Engineer within National Security Programs, you’ll serve as the primary technical interface between K2 Space, customers, and partners as we develop and shape mission architectures for future and ongoing opportunities to host advanced payload capabilities onto K2’s satellite bus platform. You’ll primarily support mission-level engineering for early technical engagement, requirements formulation and negotiation, concept and architecture studies, payload-to-bus compatibility, proposal-phase activities, and program execution.

In this role, you will work closely with Program Managers and key engineering disciplines to define and architect missions (mechanical, software, power, avionics, etc.) and ensure alignment to K2 Space’s technology and capabilities. You will also represent K2 Space in critical customer engagements, study reviews, and technical negotiations.

The ideal candidate has strong multi-disciplinary engineering skills, hands-on experience, and excellent communication abilities to effectively collaborate with National Security customers and stakeholders.

Responsibilities

Define, mature, and negotiate mission concepts. Support initial payload integration studies, mission analysis, system architecture trades, system integration designs, and concept of operations development.
Develop and maintain technical documentation for system architecture, payload interface designs, spacecraft design capabilities and requirements, and concepts of operations to ensure customer requirements and architectures align with K2 Space’s technology offerings.
Serve as the primary technical interface for early customer engagement. Lead technical discussions, represent K2 Space in TEMs and study reviews, ensure customer requirements are understood, and ensure the customer understands the extent of K2 Space’s capabilities.
Coordinate cross-functional early study efforts. Work closely with vehicle engineering, avionics, software, propulsion, thermal, and AI&T teams to ensure solutions are practical and executable.

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline.
2+ Years of experience working in the aerospace or space industry, working with spacecraft or space systems
Direct experience designing, developing, integrating or testing spacecraft or space systems.
Strong understanding of spacecraft subsystems, space system architectures, and mission modeling and simulation.
Exceptional written and verbal communication skills

Nice to Have

Master’s degree or above in an engineering discipline.
5+ Years of experience working in the aerospace or space industry, working with spacecraft, launch vehicles, airborne systems, or payloads