GNC Engineer - Trajectory Design and Guidance Engineer

K2 Space•Los Angeles, CA

2d•$120,000 - $200,000

About The Position

K2 is hiring a GNC Engineer to drive spacecraft orbital and guidance systems, including low-thrust trajectory optimization and mission planning. The role will conduct trade studies, identify novel implementation approaches, and support business development through mission planning and constellation design. Within the first three months, the engineer will own and develop K2’s trajectory optimization tooling and establish a software pipeline to generate trajectories, demonstrate optimality, convert trajectories into burn plans, and feed those plans into ground software for autonomous burn execution. Within six months, the engineer will build trajectory optimization and mission design capabilities for planning spacecraft transfers across missions including LEO to MEO, GTO to cislunar space, and launch to Mars capture orbit. The engineer will also design and implement core GNC algorithms, particularly for on-orbit station-keeping and low-thrust orbit raising. Within the first year, the engineer will support on-orbit operations for multiple K2 spacecraft flying different K2-developed trajectories.

Requirements

Master’s degree or higher in aerospace, electrical, or mechanical engineering, physics, or a related field.
At least 2 years of experience in low-thrust trajectory design.
Hands-on experience with precise orbit determination.
A track record of implementing orbit guidance and control algorithms on a spacecraft.
Mission-design expertise for both Earth-centric and interplanetary missions.
Proficiency in Python, Julia, C/C++, or Rust for algorithm development, implementation, and simulation.

Nice To Haves

Early-stage spacecraft conceptual design, including clean-sheet design work.
Low-thrust station-keeping algorithm development.
Thruster sizing and algorithm implementation.
Contributions to developing a satellite constellation.
On-orbit satellite operations.
6-DOF simulation development.

Responsibilities

Collaborate with engineers to develop a high-level vehicle mission plan.
Develop algorithms for precise orbit determination and station-keeping of large structures in Earth orbit and beyond.
Design low-thrust trajectories for vehicles to reach MEO, GEO, cislunar space, and Mars using a large Hall-effect thruster.
Develop simulation and modeling tools to support vehicle and GNC trade studies.
Recruit, interview, and mentor engineers to help shape the GNC team.
Develop K2’s trajectory optimization tooling and software pipeline, including trajectory optimization, optimality verification, burn-plan generation, and integration with ground software for autonomous burn execution.
Develop trajectory optimization and mission-design capabilities for spacecraft missions from LEO to MEO, GTO to cislunar space, and launch to Mars capture orbit.
Design and implement GNC algorithms, particularly for on-orbit station-keeping and low-thrust orbit raising.
Support on-orbit operations of multiple K2 spacecraft flying different K2-developed trajectories.
Support business development through mission planning and constellation design.