Mission / System Architect

At Axient Systems, we are shaping the future of sovereign space capability. Based in Delft, at the heart of the Dutch aerospace ecosystem, we develop advanced satellite systems that support critical commercial and government missions. Our solutions enable secure communications, defence, security, and resilient infrastructure where performance and reliability are essential.

As a growing and ambitious organisation, we offer professionals the opportunity to contribute directly to innovative space projects that make a real impact on society, security, and technological progress.

We are looking for a mission / system architect who owns the architecture of a new space mission and the decisions that shape it.

The project

You will own the architecture of a space vehicle and its mission, from concept through to launch and commissioning.

What you will own

• The mission and system architecture: the concept of operations, the split of functions between space and ground, and the design concepts that follow from it.
• The trade studies that shape the mission: orbit and constellation geometry within the customer's constraints, imaging concept of operations, communication architecture, launch vehicle selection, and make-or-buy at system level.
• The system budget structure (mass, power, data, link, pointing) and the allocations to the subsystems.
• The functional tree and the functional allocation at mission level; you set the system breakdown and the product tree structure, which the systems engineering team then maintains.
• The end-of-life and disposal concept, and the requirements it places on propulsion, power, and RF.
• Technical arbitration between the disciplines, and the judgement of whether the decomposition and interfaces still meet the mission need.
• The technical position of the project at its reviews, in front of the customer and independent reviewers.

You set the architecture; a mission systems engineer and a team of SV systems engineers execute and maintain it. Requirements engineering, interface control, and system modelling are owned by colleagues you work with daily.

You have the following demonstrable competencies

• You have a strong systems thinking mindset and the ability to break down complexity.
• You have both a very wide breadth of knowledge and deep knowledge of a handful of topics relevant to space engineering and design, with strong foundational skills in science, technology and mathematics, and the ability to apply first-principles thinking to multi-disciplinary problems.
• You have made architecture decisions with consequences and can explain the ones that turned out wrong.
• You make balanced decisions and take risks rationally.
• You can hold a technical position under cost and schedule pressure, and know when the right answer is to concede one.
• You carry the engineering team with you by argument rather than authority.
• You work in a model-based environment and understand what MBSE can and cannot do for cost, schedule, and performance.

Essential qualifications

• Eligible for a Dutch VGB-B clearance.
• Engineering degree.
• 10+ years in space systems engineering, with demonstrable ownership of the architecture of a spacecraft or a comparable complex system, not participation in one.
• Earth observation or optical payload mission experience: you understand how imaging performance drives the rest of the vehicle.
• Space sector experience across more than one phase of a programme lifecycle.
• Experience selecting, tailoring and implementing SE standards (ECSS, NASA, MIL-STD).
• Fluent English.
• Comfortable in a multidisciplinary, transatlantic team.

Desirable qualifications

• Defence sector experience.
• Experience with optical instruments and opto-mechatronics.
• Experience with supplier-based development where the platform is procured rather than built in house, in a European supply chain.
• Experience working under export control constraints.
• Cameo Systems Modeler / SysML.
• Fluent Dutch.

What we offer

A defining role at the centre of a new space vehicle development, alongside engineers, project managers, and domain specialists.

Competitive, market-aligned salary and benefits, real ownership of your discipline, and room to grow as the organisation scales.

On-site work in Delft, limited hybrid working possible.

Particularities

This role requires Dutch security screening. You will need a VOG (Certificate of Conduct) to start, which is quick to obtain and lets you begin work on the project immediately.

You might also need a VGB-B clearance. This takes longer, and we support you through it. It is required for some aspects of the role, so you must be eligible for it and willing to undergo the screening, but you do not need to have it in hand to join us.

Interested?

Apply via the vacancy on LinkedIn or the registration form on our website.

In your application, include a short description of one architecture trade you owned: the alternatives you evaluated, the criteria you used, the decision, and what you got wrong. Applications without this description will not be reviewed.