Mission Design Lead
About The Position
Stoke is building Nova, a fully and rapidly reusable launch vehicle, and a new organization focused on developing products on a 3–10 year horizon that expand the company beyond launch. The organization works on spacecraft and on-orbit mobility, downmass returning material to Earth, and satellites, platforms, and factories that use mass in space. The Mission Design Lead owns mission design across the organization’s products. The role determines what missions a spacecraft can perform and what spacecraft are needed for a given mission. It designs and compares trajectories across LEO, MEO, GEO, cislunar, and lunar space, translating analyses into delta-v budgets, propulsion-sizing inputs, timelines, and product requirements. Trajectory results also inform thermal, aerothermal, power, eclipse, and communications analyses. The lead builds and maintains in-house trajectory and mission-analysis tools and helps ensure consistent, physics-based evaluation across the product portfolio. The role calls for a self-directed person able to stay focused, move quickly, and learn as needed.
Requirements
- Master’s or PhD in aerospace engineering, astrodynamics, applied mathematics, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
- 8+ years of mission design or flight-dynamics experience, including at least one spacecraft mission flown as mission design or flight-dynamics lead.
- Deep command of orbital mechanics and trajectory optimization across multiple regimes from LEO through cislunar space, including low-thrust and multi-burn problems.
- Ability to write tools in Python, MATLAB, C++, or a similar language, and experience with at least one industry mission-design package.
- Working knowledge of how trajectory choices affect thermal, power, radiation, and aerothermal environments, as well as 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 for GEO, cislunar, or lunar missions, including transfer, capture, or landing, or refueling and servicing logistics.
- Aerobraking, aerocapture, or entry, descent, and landing trajectory design.
- Electric and multi-mode propulsion trajectory design.
- Rendezvous and proximity operations mission design.
- 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 for the organization’s products.
- 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, using 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 in-house or partner-provided flight systems meet 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.
- 4 weeks’ paid time off.
- 10 holidays, including an end-of-year closure.
- Paid family/parental leave.
- On-site gym or monthly wellness stipend, depending on location.
- Dog-friendly offices.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
