Blue Ring Mission Systems Engineer

BLUE ORIGIN•Los Angeles, CA

7d•$119,814 - $182,988

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! The role is part of the In-Space Systems business unit, which is focused on addressing two of the most compelling challenges in spaceflight today: space infrastructure and increasing mobility on-orbit. Blue Origin is helping extend humanity's reach across the solar system by developing NASA’s Mars Telecommunications Network (MTN) – a relay communications infrastructure designed to provide reliable, high-availability data services between Mars-based users and Earth in support of NASA's civil exploration and science objectives. MTN delivers relay-as-a-service to orbiters, landers, rovers, and future crewed assets, bridging the deep space link through an integrated end-to-end ground system. As part of a small, hardworking, and accomplished team of Mission Systems Engineers, you will work closely with spacecraft, mission operations, and ground system teams to define and mature the mission system — the integrated ground system and mission operations capability that enables MTN's relay services. You will lead the requirements, verification and validation, and interface definition efforts that ensure the ground and operations architecture meets mission objectives across significant light-time delays and long-duration operations. You will share in the team's impact on all aspects of mission systems engineering and the tools used to operate advanced deep space communications infrastructure. We are looking for someone to apply their technical expertise, collaborative spirit, and dedication to quality to positively impact one of the most ambitious civil space missions of our time. Passion for our mission and vision is required!

Requirements

B.S. in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, or a related technical field.
5+ years of experience in one or more of the following areas: Ground systems architecture in the context of spaceflight operations, Spacecraft operations: command & control, mission planning, flight dynamics, Requirements definition, verification, and validation of complex systems, Implementing CCSDS communications protocols and standards
Experience across a complex system lifecycle: requirement definition, design solution definition, implementation, integration, verification, validation, qualification, and operations.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Ability to work collaboratively in a fast-paced, dynamic work environment.
Ability to earn trust, maintain positive and professional relationships, and contribute to a culture of inclusion.

Nice To Haves

Experience with requirements management and traceability, preferably using DOORS Next Generation (DNG).
Experience developing and maintaining interface control documents (ICDs) for complex systems.
Experience with NASA civil space programs and/or integrating U.S. Government agency (e.g., NASA, JPL) missions.
Experience conducting end-to-end testing of large, complex systems.
Familiarity with DTN, delay/disruption-tolerant architectures, or deep space operations concepts.
Experience designing or operating spacecraft instruments and payloads.
Experience developing, deploying, and maintaining software in a cloud computing environment such as AWS or Azure.
Proficiency in programming languages such as Python.
Experience with collaboration tools such as Confluence and JIRA.
Familiarity with version control, preferably Git.
Experience with configuration and product data management tools.

Responsibilities

Identify, derive, develop, and maintain mission systems requirements, including traceability and verification and validation approach, necessary to implement a design that meets mission objectives.
Define and maintain ground element and external interface requirements and interface control documents (ICDs), including user- and payload-facing interfaces.
Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams, including engineers representing flight vehicle systems, ground software, mission operations, and payload/user customers.
Define the ground system and mission operations architectures that enable highly effective and labor-efficient real-time and store-and-forward spacecraft and ground system operation.
Plan and perform mission system product update cycles, integration and test activities, and validation exercises leading to operations training events and mission readiness.
Conduct testing of ground system functionality and measure performance against requirements.
Perform flight software to ground system integration and test.
Perform analysis to ensure operability across the space-ground system, and support efforts to improve operability where justified.
Ensure mission system requirements and interfaces align with applicable NASA and interoperability standards (e.g., CCSDS) for civil deep space missions.