Avionics DFI Engineer III

Blue Origin • Space Coast, WA

4d

About The Position

At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We’re working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight! This role is part of the Lunar Permanence business unit, which develops Blue Origin’s Blue Moon landers and related products. To further Blue Origin's mission of millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth, we are building sustainable infrastructure for our transport of crew and cargo from Earth to the lunar surface. As part of a small, passionate and accomplished team of experts, you will be responsible for Development Flight Instrumentation (DFI) for the MK-1 lunar lander as part of the MK-1 Avionics team. This position will directly impact the history of space exploration and will require your dedicated commitment and detailed attention towards safe and repeatable spaceflight. Passion for our mission and vision is required!

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Physics, Optical Engineering, or a related technical field
• 5+ years of experience in avionics, instrumentation (including bridge PTs, RTDs, and accelerometers), and electro-optical/imaging systems engineering
• Demonstrated experience owning a subsystem or hardware element across the full lifecycle: requirements, design, integration, and verification & validation
• Working knowledge of networking equipment and common data/interface standards (e.g., LVDS, SpaceWire, GigE Vision, Camera Link, CSI-2, Ethernet)
• Experience collaborating with component teams to define and document electrical and mechanical interfaces
• Ability to review embedded hardware requirements and PCB schematics
• Experience developing and executing test campaigns including C++ and Python scripting for DFI integration testing
• Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot issues found in testing, isolate failures and root case, and provide corrective action
• Familiarity with aerospace system design requirements such as thermal, vibration, shock, EMI/EMC, acoustics, electrical grounding/bonding
• Direct experience working with suppliers and resolving problems as they arise
• Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Physics, Optical Engineering, or a related technical field
• Direct experience with DFI on launch vehicles, spacecraft, or landers
• Electro-optical/imaging systems design experience with space hardened camera
• Experience designing hardware for the radiation environment (TID, SEL, SEU) and performing or supporting radiation testing
• Experience with lunar, cislunar, or deep-space mission environments and constraints
• Proficiency with analysis/scripting tools (e.g., Python, MATLAB) for data reduction and modeling
• Familiarity with flight safety and reliability requirements and processes

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary technical authority for Development Flight Instrumentation (DFI), leading the full subsystem lifecycle—from concept, requirements definition, and architecture through design, analysis, integration, verification, and validation for lunar missions
• Architect and design DFI solutions leveraging a combination of custom and COTS avionics hardware, including flight computing, signal conditioning, data acquisition systems, sensors, and harnessing
• Design, integrate, and test flight hardware assemblies to verify functionality and robustness against system requirements and mission targets
• Develop and maintain ground support equipment and test electronics (hardware and software) to support instrumentation development, integration, and test campaigns
• Maintain sensor lists and integration tracking documentation, ensuring accuracy of sensor allocations, locations, wiring/harness mapping, and status throughout vehicle integration
• Coordinate and support sensor installation and integration activities, working closely with technicians and product teams to ensure correct placement, calibration, and functional checkout
• Support product teams throughout test and flight operations, including real-time operation and monitoring of DFI systems, data management, and post-test data reduction for performance analysis and troubleshooting
• Collaborate cross-functionally with product teams to translate mission and vehicle requirements into instrumentation architectures that meet data collection, reliability, and schedule needs
• Drive make-vs-buy trade studies and technical decisions for instrumentation hardware and subsystems
• Manage DFI subsystem budget, schedule, and cost; coordinate team activities, procure hardware, and manage contractor/vendor relationships
• Prepare and deliver status reports and performance updates to stakeholders and leadership
• Author and maintain documentation of best practices, lessons learned, and design standards for development flight instrumentation to support continuous improvement across future missions
• Ensure DFI designs comply with relevant flight safety, reliability, and environmental requirements for lunar mission applications
• Own the camera architecture across vehicle imaging needs: engineering situational awareness, deployment/separation witness cams, payload and customer-facing imagery, and public outreach / mission documentation
• Trade and select sensors, lenses, windows, filters, and ISPs against mission requirements; produce a documented link budget from photons-on-aperture to bits-on-the-ground
• Drive resolution requirements top-down from what each camera needs to show into IFOV, MTF, focal length, sensor pitch, and integration time
• Define dynamic range strategy for the lunar lighting environment; evaluate HDR sensors, dual/multi-gain readouts, exposure bracketing, log/PWL encoding, and tone mapping
• Coordinate stray-light analysis: sun and Earth glare into the optics
• Select and defend mounting locations against FOV coverage, occlusion by vehicle structure, thermal soak, and stray-light paths. Working with Vehicle systems teams to support and finalize camera integration.
• Build and maintain the camera FOV / coverage model across mission phases (cruise, lunar orbit, descent, touchdown, surface ops)
• Define imaging timelines, exposure plans, and on-board autoexposure logic against comms windows and downlink budget; work with ops to prioritize frames when bandwidth is tight
• Help define mechanical interfaces: brackets, alignment tolerances, boresight calibration plan, contamination covers, sunshades, and any articulated/deployable mounts
• Help define electrical and data interfaces: connector pinouts, harness routing, power switching, sync/trigger, and the data path (CSI-2, GigE Vision, SpaceWire, Camera Link, LVDS, etc.) into C&DH and the downlink chain
• Support development of photon budge, frame rate × resolution × bit depth × compression vs. on-board storage and DTE/relay link
• Perform camera and DFI V&V: optical bench, thermal-vac, vibe/shock, EMI/EMC, radiation (TID/SEL/SEU per mission environment), and end-to-end functional with flight avionics

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability, 401(k) with a company match of up to 5%, and an Education Support Program.
• Stock Options for all regular employees (working at least 20 hours/week)
• Paid Time Off: Up to four (4) weeks per year based on weekly scheduled hours, and up to 14 company-paid holidays.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior