Principal Mission CONOPS and MBSE Engineer

MDA Space is seeking a Principal Mission CONOPS and MBSE Engineer to lead the development and implementation of Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) for space missions. This position mainly consists of developing and maintaining baseline models of mission elements that link stakeholder objectives, operational scenarios, functions, interfaces, requirements, behaviors, states, and verification evidence throughout the mission lifecycle. In collaboration with clients and multidisciplinary teams, the engineer will also contribute to the development of mission CONOPS and mission analysis activities, ensuring that models and analyses jointly support architecture decisions, requirements definition, design reviews, and operational readiness.

Summary of duties:

Stakeholder Requirements Elicitation

• Elicit and analyze mission objectives, stakeholder needs, operational constraints, figures of merit, and key drivers through workshops, interviews, and technical reviews.
• Translate stakeholder intent into model-ready mission capabilities, use cases, scenarios, assumptions, and acceptance criteria, clarifying ambiguities with clients and subject matter experts.

Model-Based Systems Engineering

• Lead the creation, integration, and maintenance of SysML models of mission elements covering mission context, capabilities, operational architecture, functional architecture, logical and physical decomposition, interfaces, behaviors, states, and parametric relationships.
• Model the interaction between space, payload, ground, launch, user-related, and external mission elements across launch and early orbit, commissioning, routine operations, maintenance, contingency management, and end-of-life phases.
• Establish modeling viewpoints, conventions, libraries, reusable templates, and quality rules compliant with program modeling methods and the digital engineering environment.
• Integrate inputs from subsystem and domain models, manage interfaces and model baseline versions, and coordinate model exchanges with requirements, analysis, product lifecycle management (PLM), and collaboration tools.

CONOPS Development, Mission Analysis, Cross-Functional Interaction

• Plan and perform mission analysis and trade studies where applicable, including mission timeline, coverage and access, re-observation frequency, data latency, link or data volume budgets, resource utilization, operational availability, and constellation performance.
• Link input data, assumptions, and analysis results to the system model and use them to evaluate architecture options, margins, sensitivities, and technical risks.
• Collaborate with mission analysis, spacecraft, payload, ground segment, software, operations, safety, cybersecurity, and verification teams to maintain an integrated mission definition.
• Support business development and early lifecycle phases, including Phase 0 and Pre-Phase A studies, concept maturation, proposal development, and technical planning.

Technical Leadership

• Provide technical leadership for MBSE work packages within the mission, including planning, estimation, prioritization, reviews, and coordination of model contributions.
• Serve as technical liaison with external clients, partners, and suppliers, and chair reviews to drive clear and recorded decisions.
• Advance MDA Space MBSE practices through reusable assets, lessons learned, process improvement, tool evaluation, and standards development.

Configuration Management, Documentation, and Standards

• Prepare and present model-based technical justifications and mission CONOPS content during lifecycle reviews, including SRR, PDR, CDR, and ORR reviews.
• Manage baselines of models, requirements, analyses, and documentation under configuration control, with appropriate change records, validations, and release statuses.
• Ensure deliverables comply with applicable program processes, client expectations, modeling standards, and data management requirements.
• Contribute to digital engineering roadmaps and improvements aimed at increasing model reuse, interoperability, automation, and decision quality.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in aerospace, electrical, software, computer, or systems engineering, or a related technical discipline, with 10+ years of relevant systems engineering experience, including significant experience developing complex systems in aerospace, space, defense, or similarly regulated sectors.
• Demonstrated experience applying MBSE to mission or system architecture, operational analysis, functional decomposition, interface definition, requirements traceability, and verification planning.
• Proficiency in an industry-standard MBSE platform, such as CAMEO Systems Modeler.
• Proven ability to work effectively with minimal supervision.
• Ability to decompose complex problems into fundamental elements in order to solve them through analysis, comparison, or creativity.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English (contact with clients outside Quebec and drafting deliverables in English).