Mission Design Lead

Stoke Space • Kent, WA

7h

About The Position

Stoke is building Nova, a fully and rapidly reusable launch vehicle, and a new organization focused on products on a 3–10 year horizon that expand the company beyond launch. This group develops spacecraft and on-orbit mobility, downmass return capabilities, and satellites, platforms, and factories that put mass to work in space. It is intentionally small, with team members carrying broad responsibilities.

The Mission Design Lead owns mission design for everything the organization builds. The role determines what missions a spacecraft can perform and what spacecraft a mission requires. It designs and compares trajectories across LEO, MEO, GEO, cislunar, and lunar space, then translates those analyses into delta-v budgets, propulsion-sizing inputs, timelines, and product requirements. Trajectory outputs also support thermal, aerothermal, power, eclipse, radiation, and communications analyses. The lead builds and maintains in-house trajectory and mission-analysis tools, defines and verifies GNC and flight-dynamics requirements, and owns flight-safety, conjunction-assessment, and regulatory analysis for maneuvering missions. The role requires self-direction, adaptability, and the ability to work quickly.

Requirements

• Master's or PhD in aerospace engineering, astrodynamics, applied mathematics, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• At least 8 years of mission design or flight-dynamics experience, including serving as mission design or flight-dynamics lead for at least one flown spacecraft mission.
• Deep command of orbital mechanics and trajectory optimization across multiple regimes from LEO through cislunar, including low-thrust and multi-burn problems.
• Ability to write custom tools in Python, MATLAB, C++, or similar, and experience with at least one industry mission-design package.
• Working knowledge of how trajectory choices affect thermal, power, radiation, and aerothermal environments, and of GNC and navigation fundamentals.
• Demonstrated ability to make rapid, well-reasoned trades with incomplete information.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to lead and to follow.

Nice To Haves

• Mission-design experience for GEO, cislunar, or lunar missions, including transfer, capture, or landing, or experience with refueling and servicing logistics.
• Aerobraking, aerocapture, or entry, descent, and landing trajectory-design experience.
• Electric and multi-mode propulsion trajectory-design experience.
• Rendezvous and proximity-operations mission-design experience.
• GNC architecture or flight-software experience.
• Experience building or leading a flight-dynamics or mission-design group.
• Familiarity with national-security space mission planning.

Responsibilities

• Design, optimize, and compare trajectories and mission profiles across LEO, MEO, GEO, cislunar, and lunar regimes.
• Map vehicle capability to mission capability and vice versa, including delta-v budgets, propellant and timeline trades across chemical, electric, and multi-mode propulsion, and mission-class definitions that drive vehicle requirements.
• Provide trajectory-derived inputs to other studies, including thermal and radiation environments, aerothermal loads for atmospheric flight phases, eclipse and power profiles, and ground-contact and communication geometry.
• Build and maintain the organization's trajectory and mission-analysis tools, including custom code and industry packages such as GMAT, Copernicus, FreeFlyer, STK, or POST2.
• Define GNC and flight-dynamics requirements arising from mission design, and verify that the flight system performs against them.
• Own flight-safety, conjunction-assessment, and regulatory analysis for maneuvering missions.
• Help grow the mission design team as the products mature.

Benefits

• Equity in the form of stock options for regular, full-time employees.
• Comprehensive benefits program including subsidized medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• Company-paid life and disability insurance.
• 401(k) plan with employer match.
• Four weeks of paid time off.
• Ten holidays, including an end-of-year closure.
• Paid family/parental leave.
• On-site gym or monthly wellness stipend, depending on location.
• Dog-friendly offices.

What This Job Offers

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