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Lead Ground Systems Engineer (ESS-SR)

Stellar Solutions

Aurora, COFull-time$150–175K/yrSeen 3 days agoSeen in employer's feed 3 days ago

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At a glance

Compensation
$150–175K/yr
Location
Aurora, CO
Schedule
Full-time
Work Authorization
US work authorization required

Olive lists jobs from US employers, including remote roles you can work from the United States.

Requirements

Credentials this posting asks for.

TS/SCI clearance

Job overview

Stellar Solutions seeks a Senior Ground Systems Engineer to lead systems engineering and technical advisory services for a government customer in Aurora, Colorado. The role oversees a team supporting SIGINT, GEOINT, and Operations Center ground systems, develops requirements, monitors deliveries and testing, and advises government leadership on risks, priorities, and service improvements. The position requires extensive ground systems experience, an active TS/SCI clearance with polygraph, and U.S. citizenship.

Skills & qualifications

RequiredNice to have

Skills

Ground Systems EngineeringLeadershipMission Readiness ProcessesSystems Engineering GovernanceGEOINT ArchitectureSIGINT ArchitectureProgram Lifecycle ManagementCONOPS Requirements DevelopmentInterface Control DocumentationTechnical Specification ReviewArchitecture DevelopmentAgileDevOpsSpiral MethodologyWaterfall MethodologyCloud TechnologiesCustomer Requirements ManagementWritten CommunicationVerbal CommunicationInterpersonal SkillsJudgmentCollaborationStakeholder CoordinationConsensus BuildingMicrosoft OfficeMicrosoft OutlookMicrosoft ProjectDigital EngineeringModel-Based Systems EngineeringReal-Time OperationsSpacecraft OperationsGround Systems OperationsSAFeINCOSE Certification

Qualifications

U.S. CitizenshipActive TS/SCI Clearance With PolygraphBachelor's STEM+14, Master's STEM+12, or PhD/JD STEM+9 Years14+ Years Ground Systems Engineering Experience

Benefits

401(k) Match
Medical Insurance
Paid Time Off

Full job description

Lead Ground Systems Engineer (ESS-SR) Job Locations US-CO-Aurora ID 2026-2051 Category Systems Engineer Type Full-Time Overview Stellar Solutions, a nationally recognized "Great Place To Work", has exciting opportunities providing Engineering solutions for innovative new-entrant space companies, as well as established space systems manufacturers, commercial space system operators and service providers, and other industry stakeholders including investors. At Stellar Solutions, we offer talented, energetic, and immediately productive resources to satisfy our customers' critical needs in systems engineering and integration, mission operations, program management and strategic planning. We are a leading service and expertise provider for high-tech commercial ventures, spanning communications, earth observation and remote sensing systems and data products, to the infrastructures that support earth orbiting and beyond earth orbit businesses. Stellar Solutions has an opportunity for a Senior Ground Systems Engineer to lead, guide, and provide Systems Engineering and Technical Advisory services for a government customer in Aurora, CO. Role/Responsibilities/Qualifications The successful candidate will: - Lead and oversee technical efforts of four systems engineers providing enterprise-wide, high-impact systems engineering services for SIGINT, GEOINT, and Operations Center ground systems - Develop technical requirements for SIGINT and GEOINT ground processing system updates, monitor and supervise scheduling of system deliveries, system testing and documentation of discrepancies - Anticipate, assign, drive projects and customer requirements to closure; continually assess team's tasks, realign/reprioritize/augment assignments as appropriate - Work with government managers program leadership to organize and plan ground team support; maintain awareness of government's evolving needs and proactively provide analysis, insights, recommendations to improve delivery of services and/or exploit opportunity to enhance process or resource effectiveness or efficiency - Provide technical support to government points of contacts; identify and communicate status, risks, issues, opportunities, assumptions, mitigations, and dependencies for ground system activities - Promote and facilitate collaboration with government, SETA team members, and other contractors supporting the government - across the enterprise - Develop assessments and staffing products for a variety of audiences, convey information in a clear and articulate manner to Government leadership Required: - US Citizenship - Active TS/SCI clearance with polygraph - Bachelor's degree in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) and 14 years or more experience; Master's in STEM field and 12 years or more experience; PhD or JD in STEM and nine (9) years or more experience. *STEM is a contractual requirement - Demonstrated leadership success on variety of complex ground systems engineering projects impacting mission operations - In-depth experience with NRO systems engineering and mission readiness processes; familiar with readiness events, control gates, and associated entry/exit criteria; systems engineering governance - Knowledge of GEOINT and SIGINT overall space and ground architecture including mission management, mission control and mission processing functions - Program lifecycle experience from concept development and design to deployment, operations, and maintenance, decommission - CONOPS requirements development, interface control documentation, technical specification review, architecture development - Experience in systems development methodologies (e.g Agile, DevOps, Spiral, Waterfall, etc.) and cloud technologies - Self-starter, proactively addresses customer requirements with no supervision; expert at defining solutions for broad, abstract topics-drives tasks to closu e - Polished communicator (written/verbal); impeccable interpersonal skills and personal judgment - Master at collaboration and coordination with multiple stakeholders -- consensus builder - Proficient with MS Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel), MS Outlook, MS Project) Desired: - Experience with Digital Engineering (DE)/Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) and associated tools. - Real-time operations experience as a spacecraft or ground systems operator - SAFe, Agile, INCOSE certifications - Proficient with MS Project Compensation The typical salary pay range for this position is USD $150,000 - $175,000. Individual pay is determined by many factors including work location, job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. In addition to base salary, this position is eligible for a comprehensive total rewards package that includes an annual performance bonus, an employer-funded Profit-Sharing Plan (PSP) contribution based on base compensation, and comprehensive employer-paid medical benefits, PTO pay-out options, along with additional company-sponsored benefits. All of these benefits represent an additional 30-40% to your base compensation for a total compensation package. Deliverable(s) Deliverables will be in the format of reports, briefings, spreadsheets, or other documents as directed by the Government. The nature of the work will, at times, require a quick response to stringent deadlines and always in a high quality, professional manner. Stellar Solutions is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability Apply at: https://ipc.us/t/4784DD131EF64E98.

How this job compares

Set against the 10,536 open Systems Engineer jobs on Olive Jobs, counted October 27, 2026.

Pay
  • This posting$150–175K/yr
  • Colorado median$114–175K/yr880 salary ranges
  • US median$115–188K/yr7,864 salary ranges

This range's midpoint, $163K, is 12% above the Colorado median midpoint ($145K) — in the middle half of Systems Engineer salary ranges in Colorado.

Openings
Olive Jobs lists 1,023 open Systems Engineer jobs in Colorado and 10,536 across the US. 4% of them nationwide are listed as remote or flexible.
Hiring the most in Colorado
Experience
This posting asks for at least 9 years of experience — more than three in four Systems Engineer postings that state a minimum ask for (median 5 years, across 8,741 postings).
Education
4,680 of the 10,536 open Systems Engineer jobs (44%) ask for a bachelor's degree or higher.

Counted across the open, public US postings on Olive Jobs on October 27, 2026. Pay medians are the middle values of the low ends and of the high ends of postings that list both ends of a range in the same cadence (a yearly salary or an hourly rate); a range's midpoint is halfway between its ends. Pay and experience figures resting on fewer than 20 postings are left out.

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