Junior Space Systems Engineer
Role Summary
Join Foundational as a Junior Space Systems Engineer in London, tackling engineering challenges in the space domain with competitive compensation!
Minimum Requirements
- A degree in space systems engineering, aerospace or mechanical or electrical engineering, physics, or a closely related field.
- Strong engineering and physics fundamentals, and the instinct to reach for a first-principles estimate before an opinion.
- Some practical engineering experience - a graduate scheme, internship, placement year, or a serious university project or competition team. What matters is that you've built something real and dealt with the consequences.
- Hands-on instincts. You like building, aligning, breaking, and fixing hardware, not only simulating it.
- Scripting ability for analysis and modelling (Python preferred; MATLAB or similar is fine).
- Comfort with ambiguity and ownership. You're energised by a startup where scope is broad, priorities shift, and nobody hands you a fully-specified task list.
- Clear communication and a collaborative, low-ego approach to working across software and hardware.
- The right to work in the UK.
- Hands-on experience with space hardware: CubeSats or smallsats, optical ground stations, LiDAR, or laser systems. Academic projects and competitions absolutely count.
- Familiarity with orbital mechanics and the formats that go with it (TLEs, CPF/CRD).
- Exposure to environmental or space qualification testing.
- Optics fundamentals - geometrical and physical optics, radiometry, detectors and laser sources - or exposure to optical design software (Zemax, Code V).
- Comfort in Linux environments, or experience writing instrument control and data-analysis code.
- Awareness of laser safety standards (e.g. BS EN 60825).
- FPGA or embedded work, particularly for timing applications.
Working Conditions
London, UK (on-site, Borough / London Bridge)Type: Full-timeLevel: Junior / early-career - ideal for someone coming off a graduate scheme, though exceptional recent graduates with strong project experience are very welcomeCompensation: £35,000–£45,000 depending on experience, plus meaningful equity through our government-backed EMI scheme_____We are Foundational
We're an early-stage, mission-driven startup tackling one of the hardest and most exciting engineering challenges in the space domain: building the most precise understanding of space and Earth using ground-based lasers.
Using satellite laser ranging (SLR) and space debris laser ranging (SDLR) data, we're giving the next generation of space companies exquisite orbital data - the foundation for resilient navigation, Earth observation, and precise space traffic control. This is essential infrastructure for the sustainability and resilience of the space domain, and we think it will be foundational to the future economy.
Our network doesn't stop at the ground. To close the loop on precision, we're building the small optical payloads that fly on-orbit and talk back to our stations, and the systems engineering that ties ground, space, and data platform into one coherent whole. That's where you come in.
Eligibility Criteria
Eligibility details for applicants are unclear, particularly for international candidates.
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