Systems Architect
Magdrive
IT
Posted on Feb 24, 2026
Magdrive is hiring a System Architect to lead its R&D engineering team. This role will play a pivotal executive role in shaping the design and delivery of advanced electric propulsion systems for in-orbit tests and customer missions. This position involves high-level decision making, overseeing technical requirements from concept through integration, and serving as the technical point of contact for key customer partnerships. As a leader within the R&D engineering team, you will guide cross-functional design activities, ensure compliance with industry standards, and maintain alignment with system architecture and strategic goals. Your expertise will drive the development, certification, and verification of hardware, while influencing the future direction of Magdrive's technology.
Magdrive offers a flexible work environment with the ability to adjust work hours, partial remote working, fully paid-for conferences, and regular company socials. Magdrive is based at the Harwell Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire, UK.
Responsibilities:
Contribute to and own design requirements in collaboration with the CTO:
- Create the overall architecture for the propulsion system by defining how different subsystems interface.
- Collaborate with the Product Team on delivery of the latest hardware iteration for qualification and testing.
Mission requirements:
- Manage technical requirements flow-down and implementation from customer to sub-systems.
- Assist in defining CONOPS to ensure that the system functional flows are clearly defined.
- Perform systems level tradeoff studies.
New customer requirements and feedback:
- Address customer’s initial technical considerations about thruster capability.
- Provide insight to customers into engineering partnership opportunities.
- Own customer requirements for NRE and lead as the technical POC for ongoing customer engineering.
Technical leadership:
- Provide technical direction to cross-functional R&D engineering teams, ensuring all design activities align with the overarching system architecture and goals.
Subsystems integration
- Guide the integration of all subsystems to ensure they meet performance, reliability, and safety standards.
Standards compliance:
- Ensure the design adheres to relevant industry standards and promote best engineering practices.
- Ensure that design certification for contract requirements and appropriate legislation is performed correctly.
Technical Documentation:
- Contribute to and write engineering plans, technical specifications, and ICDs, and test plans.
- Maintain the key sub-system level interface documentation and associated schema.
Systems verification
- Support system verification to demonstrate compliance with the customer needs.
- Work within the engineering team to accomplish engineering activities to time, budget and quality.
- Work with subsystem suppliers to ensure their designs meet the system level needs.
Requirements:
Essential:
· Eight plus years’ experience in engineering within the space industry.
· Eight plus years’ experience in engineering within the space industry.
· Degree in engineering or similar.
· Experience working on space systems hardware.
· A deep understanding of propulsion subsystems.
· Experience of delivering system capabilities for space hardware.
Desirable:
· An understanding of thermal and structural considerations for space systems
· An understanding of thermal and structural considerations for space systems
· Experience in systems engineering for spacecraft and subsystems.
· Experience with spacecraft chemical and electric propulsion.
· Experience with CAD software, PLM tools, requirements management tools
Benefits:
· 25 days annual leave + bank holidays
· Flexible working hours and remote working
· Employee share options scheme
· Comprehensive private health insurance
· Support for home office setup