Systems Analysis: Technical Staff 5/6

The Advanced Electro-Optical Systems Group (99) (https://www.ll.mit.edu/r-d/space-systems-and-technology/integrated-systems-and-concepts) develops space systems for the U.S. Space Force and other government organizations. We don't stop at studies or concepts—we design, build, test, launch, and operate real systems.

We are looking for someone with strong analytical instincts who wants to help figure out what the right system should be—and then help us build it.

You will use modeling, simulation, trades, and test data to understand mission performance and drive engineering decisions. The problems span the full system: orbit, sensors, spacecraft, pointing and tracking, communications, onboard processing, ground systems, and operations. The questions are often open-ended: What architecture best accomplishes the mission? What actually drives performance? Where is additional capability worth the cost or complexity?

Analysis here is connected to the system we're building. We expect people to follow their work into the lab, work alongside the engineers building the hardware and software, develop and run tests, dig into unexpected results, and update their understanding when the real system behaves differently than the model. We want people who are willing to get into the details and help solve the problem, not simply provide analysis from the sidelines.

Job Overview

• Model system and mission performance.

• Explore architectures and perform engineering trades.

• Use optimization and design-space exploration to understand what drives performance.

• Develop tools and simulations to answer important mission and design questions.

• Compare predictions against test, calibration, and on-orbit data.

• Work across hardware, software, algorithms, GNC, and operations to turn analysis into design decisions.

• Help design and execute tests that answer important system questions.

• Stay engaged as systems move from design through integration, test, launch, and operations.

We expect people to take ownership. Problems won't always arrive neatly defined. You should be comfortable figuring out what needs to be done, pulling in the right people, and driving technical problems to ground.

Additional Job Overview Details

Many analysis jobs end when the study is delivered. Ours doesn't.

Your analysis can influence the orbit we fly, the payload we build, the spacecraft we procure, and the algorithms we develop. You'll follow those decisions into the lab, through integration and test, and eventually into operations of a system being used by the Space Force.

If you enjoy challenging analytical problems and want to be directly involved in building and proving real systems, this is a great opportunity.

Minimum Qualifications

Candidates will be considered for the appropriate level based on their education, experience, demonstrated technical expertise and breadth, leadership responsibilities, and the scale and complexity of programs or technical efforts they have led.

Level 5 – Technical Staff

• Bachelor’s degree in a STEM discipline or other relevant technical field and typically 6+ years of relevant experience; or Master’s degree and typically 4+ years of relevant experience; or PhD and typically 0+ years of relevant experience; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

• Diverse technical expertise with demonstrated ability to adapt that expertise to unfamiliar or emerging disciplines, systems, mission areas, or methods.

• Established education, skills, and experience demonstrating the ability to apply significant technical judgment to broad challenges requiring integration across related systems or methods.

• Demonstrated ability to lead projects or major workstreams and deliver complex technical outcomes.

• Experience evaluating trade-offs, recommending paths forward, and adapting technical approaches to evolving project needs.

• Demonstrated mentorship, collaboration, and ability to communicate recommendations, risks, and technical findings to varied audiences.

• Experience contributing to technical reports, papers, presentations, proposals, or other formal technical deliverables.

Level 6 – Technical Staff

• Bachelor’s degree in a STEM discipline or other relevant technical field and typically 8+ years of relevant experience; or Master’s degree and typically 6+ years of relevant experience; or PhD and typically 2+ years of relevant experience; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

• Deep and diverse technical expertise with demonstrated ability to integrate knowledge across domains and establish direction in evolving systems or mission areas.

• Established education, skills, and experience demonstrating the ability to incorporate technical judgment, program context, and stakeholder input to solve broad technical challenges.

• Proven experience leading complex programs, significant program elements, or multi-team technical efforts.

• Demonstrated ability to evaluate alternatives, manage technical ambiguity, and influence decisions across teams or stakeholder groups.

• Strong record of mentorship, collaboration, technical communication, and contribution to team or Group capability development.

• Experience contributing to proposals, publications, technical reports, presentations, or other materials that shape program direction or technical initiatives.

Preferred Qualifications

We care more about technical depth, curiosity, and engineering judgment than a particular academic background. Strong candidates may come from aerospace, physics, applied mathematics, electrical or mechanical engineering, computer science, operations research, or related fields.

Relevant experience may include: • Physics-based modeling and simulation• System performance analysis and optimization• Space mission or orbital analysis• Electro-optical or remote-sensing systems• Signal, image, or data processing• Monte Carlo analysis and uncertainty propagation• MATLAB, Python, or similar tools• Hardware development, integration, or test

Direct experience building spacecraft is useful but not required. We are particularly interested in strong analysts who want their work tied directly to real hardware and operational missions.

Technical Staff 5 Hiring Range: [[hiringRange]]

Technical Staff 6 Hiring Range: [[gradRange]]

Disclaimer: MIT Lincoln Laboratory provides a typical hiring range as a good faith estimate of what we reasonably expect to offer for this position at the time of posting. The final salary offered to a selected candidate will depend on various factors, including—but not limited to—the scope and responsibilities of the role, the candidate’s experience, skills and education/training, internal equity considerations and applicable legal requirements. This range reflects base salary only and does not include additional forms of compensation or benefits.

At MIT Lincoln Laboratory, our exceptional career opportunities include many outstanding benefits to help you stay healthy, feel supported, and enjoy a fulfilling work-life balance. Benefits offered to employees include:

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision plans

• MIT-funded pension

• Matching 401K

• Paid leave (including vacation, sick, parental, military, etc.)

• Tuition reimbursement and continuing education programs

• Mentorship programs

• A range of work-life balance options

• ... and much more!

Please visit our Benefits page (https://hr.mit.edu/benefits) for more information. As an employee of MIT, you can also take advantage of other voluntary benefits, discounts and perks (https://hr.mit.edu/benefits/additional) .

Selected candidate will be subject to a pre-employment background investigation and must be able to obtain and maintain a Secret level DoD security clearance.

MIT Lincoln Laboratory is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, veteran status, disability status, or genetic information; U.S. citizenship is required.

Requisition ID: [[id]]