MK2 Crew Lander GN&C Flight Software Engineer - Sr

Blue Origin•Littleton, CO

About The Position

This senior role is part of Blue Origin’s Lunar Permanence business unit, which develops Blue Moon landers and related products. The engineer will join the Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GN&C) team and develop, integrate, test, and mature navigation, guidance, and control software for the MK2 Crew Lander. The work spans GN&C algorithms, flight software, avionics hardware, camera and sensor systems, and mission operations to support robust, safe, and certifiable lunar landing capabilities. The position focuses on the software infrastructure and flight implementation for capabilities such as vision-based navigation, computer vision, sensor processing, state estimation, guidance, and flight controls. The engineer will help establish reliable, scalable software practices for moving advanced GN&C capabilities from laboratory prototypes through integrated vehicle testing and flight readiness. The successful candidate will independently drive architecture and implementation decisions for assigned capabilities, identify and retire integration risks, influence engineering standards, and deliver software and test evidence in support of vehicle milestones. Direct people management is not necessarily part of the role, but it includes mentoring teammates, leading technical discussions, and improving the GN&C organization’s software capabilities. U.S. citizenship or national status, permanent residency, refugee admission, or asylum status is required.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, aerospace engineering, electrical engineering, or a related technical field.
At least 8 years of professional software engineering experience, including substantial experience with embedded, real-time, robotics, aerospace, autonomous-system, or other high-reliability software.
Experience developing production-quality software in C/C++ and Rust and working effectively in mixed-language software environments.
Experience integrating software with physical hardware, sensors, embedded compute systems, drivers, and communications interfaces.
Demonstrated experience designing software architectures, APIs, modular interfaces, and testable systems for complex technical products.
Strong understanding of software verification practices, including unit and integration testing, automated build and test pipelines, code review, debugging, and root-cause analysis.
Ability to work effectively across algorithm, hardware, systems engineering, test, and software groups.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including communicating technical decisions, risks, and tradeoffs to diverse engineering stakeholders.
Ability to earn trust through hands-on technical contribution, constructive mentorship, and disciplined engineering execution.
Must be a U.S. citizen or national, a U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

Nice To Haves

Experience with GN&C, navigation, state estimation, sensor fusion, visual odometry, computer vision, terrain-relative navigation, robotics, or autonomous vehicles.
Experience deploying computer vision or machine perception capabilities on embedded or flight-like computing hardware.
Experience with cFS/cFE, flight software frameworks, real-time operating systems, or spacecraft avionics software.
Experience developing camera drivers, image acquisition pipelines, camera calibration workflows, or time-synchronized multi-sensor systems.
Familiarity with spacecraft flight software lifecycle practices, including requirements-based verification, qualification testing, safety-critical development, and mission assurance expectations.
Experience with hardware-in-the-loop testing, simulation, test automation, or laboratory infrastructure development.
Demonstrated use of C++ and Rust in embedded, systems, aerospace, or high-reliability applications.
Familiarity with software security and robustness practices such as fuzz testing, memory-safety analysis, static analysis, dependency management, and secure build pipelines.
Experience with lunar, planetary, spacecraft, or human-spaceflight programs.
Experience serving as a senior technical mentor, technical lead, or engineering coach while remaining primarily hands-on.

Responsibilities

Partner with GN&C algorithm developers to transition algorithms from prototype environments into performant, testable, flight-appropriate software implementations.
Design, implement, integrate, and maintain MK2 Crew Lander GN&C flight software, particularly navigation and computer vision capabilities, including image preprocessing, modular algorithm architectures, camera interfaces, telemetry, command interfaces, and integration with core flight software.
Collaborate with avionics, embedded software, payload, and flight hardware teams to define camera, sensor, driver, API, communications, timing, synchronization, and data-handling requirements.
Develop hardware-in-the-loop, software-in-the-loop, and laboratory test capabilities for repeatable validation of GN&C and vision-based navigation performance across representative sensors, compute hardware, and mission scenarios.
Establish flight software engineering practices, including automated builds, static analysis, unit and integration testing, code coverage, regression and fuzz testing, continuous integration, configuration control, and acceptance-test planning.
Contribute to safety-critical and human-spaceflight software maturity through requirements traceability, verification planning, fault handling, deterministic behavior, and clear interface definitions.
Mentor and technically guide less experienced engineers in software design, debugging, code review, testing strategy, and disciplined development practices.
Independently make software architecture and implementation decisions for assigned capabilities, identify and address integration risks early, influence engineering standards, and deliver software and test evidence for vehicle milestones.

Benefits

Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
Basic and supplemental life insurance.
Paid parental leave.
Short- and long-term disability coverage.
401(k) with company match of up to 5%.
Education Support Program.
Stock options for all regular employees working at least 20 hours per week.
Up to four weeks of paid time off per year based on weekly scheduled hours.
Up to 14 company-paid holidays.
Depending on role type and job level, potential eligibility for benefits and bonuses based on company policy; amounts and eligibility are not guaranteed.