Senior Systems Engineer, Airbus U.S. Space & Defense, Inc.
Sarah Jurczyk is a Senior Systems Engineer at Airbus U.S. Space & Defense, where she leads complex systems engineering efforts across the design, qualification, and validation of advanced satellite platforms. With deep lifecycle experience spanning integration, test, and on-orbit operations, she has quickly earned a reputation as a steady, trusted engineer who can move seamlessly from subsystem detail to system-level judgment. Her work on Airbus’s Arrow 450 small satellite platform, coupled with earlier contributions to landmark NASA missions, reflects both technical breadth and a rare calm under pressure.
Sarah joined Airbus U.S. Space & Defense after beginning her career at Ball Aerospace, where she worked in Systems Integration and Test on Landsat-9’s Operational Land Imager 2 and supported on-orbit commissioning of the optical telescope element for the James Webb Space Telescope. Those early roles required close coordination across industry, government, academic, and international partners, experiences that shaped her systems-level perspective and collaborative approach.
That foundation carried forward at Airbus U.S. Space & Defense, where she was hired as a Systems Engineer on the Arrow 450 platform and rapidly took on roles of increasing responsibility. In that role, she has led work across the structures, thermal, and propulsion subsystems, system test planning, and Failure Detection, Isolation, and Recovery (FDIR), ultimately serving as the sole responsible authority for the platform’s FDIR implementation. Her most significant accomplishment has been the qualification of the Arrow 450 structural and thermal subsystems, culminating in successful mechanical and thermal vacuum testing and delivery of a fully qualified design after a multi-year engineering effort.
Endorsers note that Sarah is frequently selected to tackle the company’s most critical technical challenges. She was recently hand-picked to lead functional validation planning and execution, a role that combines technical rigor, customer engagement, and cross-disciplinary leadership ahead of launch. Colleagues consistently describe her as a systems thinker who takes time to understand problems deeply, questions assumptions, and communicates clearly across engineering and program teams.
Beyond program execution, Sarah plays an active role in workforce development. She serves as amentor to early career engineers, has transformed Airbus’s internship program, and supports both the Brooke Owens Fellowship and the Pattie Grace Smith Fellowship. She also recentlycompleted the International Space University’s Space Studies Program held in Seoul, further broadening her global and interdisciplinary perspective.
Across spacecraft development, mission operations, and mentorship, Sarah Jurczyk is recognized as a systems engineer whose judgment, integrity, and composure elevate the teams and programs she supports.
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