A great client vision and a great engineering execution plan don't always start out aligned. This role is for the engineer who closes that gap, who understands both what the client is trying to achieve and what it takes to build it, and can define the path from one to the other.
Role Overview:
As a Senior Engineer on the Solutions Engineering team, you will be the primary technical and programmatic lead across multiple client projects, from contract signing through closeout. You will translate client goals into technical roadmaps, define requirements that the engineering team can execute against, and ensure that scope, priorities, and trade-offs are managed clearly throughout the program lifecycle. You will serve as a trusted technical advisor to clients, a mentor to engineers across disciplines, and a force for raising the bar on how SOE defines and executes its work.
This role requires a T-shaped engineer: deep expertise in at least one discipline, paired with enough breadth across the others to lead effectively in a multidisciplinary environment. You don't need to be the expert in every room, but you need to know the right questions to ask in all of them.
What You Will Do:
- Act as the primary technical interface for clients from contract signing through closeout, translating business objectives into a technical development roadmap that balances cost, schedule, and performance
- Define clear, verifiable requirements that form the technical baseline for the engineering team and create mutual value for both the client and SOE across the contract lifecycle
- Lead cross-functional collaboration across engineering disciplines, ensuring clear alignment and seamless handoffs between architecture and detailed design
- Identify technical risks early, develop mitigation strategies, and ensure proposed solutions are robust and buildable before they reach the development team
- Mentor engineers across the organization and contribute to improving how SOE defines, scopes, and executes its work
What You Will Need:
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Mathematics, or a related field
- 7+ years of experience in a systems engineering or hardware development role, preferably in the aerospace, medical, industrial, or consumer electronics industries
- Demonstrated ability to translate defined technical scope into a schedule with dependencies and a corresponding execution plan such that engineers of differing skillsets and levels can successfully follow and drive to closure
- Demonstrated ability to apply systems engineering principles and analyze complex problems to create and define system architectures, interfaces, and requirements for new, hardware-centric products
- Depth of knowledge in at least one discipline: electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, embedded software, or integration and test
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
What Would Be Useful:
- Experience facilitating technical workshops, leading requirements negotiations, and managing scope across multidisciplinary teams
- Prior experience in a consulting or customer-facing engineering role
- Experience mentoring or coaching engineers across disciplines beyond your immediate project team
Benefits:
- Compensation range of $154,080-187,100 + equity incentive plan
- Flexible work hours and work from home policy
- 100% employer-paid health insurance (Medical, Dental, Vision) for employees + 50% dependent coverage
- Unlimited paid time off policy, 11x paid company holidays, 12x paid sick days
- 401(k) retirement account and employer matching (Safe Harbor 4%)
- Generous paid parental leave
- Relocation assistance available if 50+ miles away from the office
- Electric Vehicle (EV) charging ports
- Catered lunches, snacks, and accessible kitchen
Our Values in Practice:
SOE’s four core values are the standard by which we operate. As a Senior Engineer on the Solutions Engineering team, you are expected to bring them into every client interaction, technical decision, and team dynamic:
- Lead with Curiosity: Go beyond the stated ask to find the real problem. Invest in understanding the underlying engineering and business context before defining a solution, and bring what you learn back to the team and the client.
- Own the Outcome: Take responsibility for program execution. Communicate early when scope or schedule shifts, address problems before they become risks, and hold the standard from kickoff to closeout.
- Build the Right Thing: Validate that SOE’s solution genuinely unblocks the client, even when a faster path is available. Define requirements that match intent, not just what was asked for, and push back when the two diverge.
- Empower Others: Serve as a trusted advisor across the engineering organization. Share frameworks, lessons, and approaches that help other engineers think more systematically. The team gets better when you do.
About Second Order Effects:
SOE is an engineering consulting firm that specializes in electrical, electromechanical, and embedded systems. Founded in 2016, we’ve grown from a 3-person operation to a team of 40+ engineers across offices in El Segundo, CA and Redmond, WA. In that time, we’ve completed over 250 projects for more than 100 clients. Our designs control rocket engines, manage satellite communications, instrument fusion reactors, and are enjoyed by consumers around the world. The only thing we won’t build are weapons.
We’re 100% employee-owned, which means that every engineer at SOE has a real stake in what we build. We structured the company this way because we believe the people best equipped to advance our mission are the ones doing the work.
We approach problems from first principles. We break challenges down to their most fundamental components, which is how we find solutions that hold up across industries, use cases, and engineering functions. We focus on solving the right problems and building the teams to take them on.
Additional Requirements:
- Applicant must be willing to work 40 hours a week on-site in El Segundo, CA, USA
- Applicant must be eligible to work on ITAR projects
- Job Type: Full-time (Salary)
ITAR Requirements:
- To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide sponsorship at this time.
If you don’t meet 100% of the preferred skills and experience, we encourage you to still apply!
Second Order Effects is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with SOE is governed on the basis of excellence and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability, or any other legally protected status.
