Principal Mission Autonomy Architect

BLUE ORIGIN•Reston, VA

1d•$173,466 - $256,470

About The Position

The Principal Mission Autonomy Architect is part of Blue Origin’s Blue National Security (BNS) organization, which designs, develops, and delivers launch and spacecraft systems for national security missions. The role provides leadership across organizations and works end-to-end across vehicle, sensor/payload, and ground elements to create autonomous space systems solutions. It formulates on-orbit autonomy strategies for Blue National Security, including Blue Ring and constellation product lines, and contributes to trade studies and proposal development for national security customers, civil government agencies, and commercial entities pursuing advanced on-orbit operations. The architect interfaces with defense and civil-space stakeholders on autonomy topics, including capability roadmaps, mission-level requirements, and oversight of implementation and testing. The role provides subject matter expertise in fleet-level autonomous operations, rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO), and other autonomy needs during algorithm development and flight operations. It also leads architecture and lifecycle autonomy efforts, develops verification and testing processes, mentors program teams, and supports live autonomous mission activities. Relocation assistance is available for candidates relocating to a primary Blue Origin office location. Travel of up to 25% may be required depending on work location and program needs. An active TS//SCI clearance is strongly preferred but not required. Base pay ranges are $183,193.00–$256,469.85 for Virginia applicants and $173,466.00–$242,851.35 for Colorado applicants; ranges at other sites may differ.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace, Software, Electrical, Mechanical, Physics, Systems Engineering, or a related technical subject area.
10+ years of technical experience developing space mission design and autonomous systems.
10+ years of technical experience in space autonomy, including on-orbit autonomous operations, relative navigation, orbital mechanics, and multi-spacecraft coordination.
Strong background developing space autonomy ConOps, requirements, and interface description documents for element-level teams.
Demonstrated experience with fleet-level autonomy and/or rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) throughout the mission design lifecycle, from conceptualization through operational flight.
Applied experience with autonomy and mission design tools such as MATLAB/Simulink, STK, FreeFlyer, GMAT, or equivalent.
Experience developing high-level plans for end-to-end integrated system tests throughout a program’s lifecycle.
Strong customer relationship skills, including discovering requirements underlying feature requests, recommending alternative technical and business approaches, and leading engineering efforts to meet ambitious timelines with optimal solutions.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

Nice To Haves

Ph.D. in Aerospace, Software, Electrical, Mechanical, Physics, Systems Engineering, or a related technical subject area.
15+ years of proven experience focused on mission design and autonomous space systems.
Support and/or leadership of operational autonomous flight for multiple spacecraft missions.
Applied expertise in relative navigation algorithms, including sensor fusion, optical/LIDAR-based proximity sensing, and state estimation for RPO applications.
Experience with autonomous mission planning and execution frameworks for multi-spacecraft or constellation operations.
Familiarity with national security space mission requirements, including Space Domain Awareness (SDA), on-orbit servicing, and responsive space operations.
Experience with AI/ML-based decision-making frameworks applied to on-orbit autonomy or fleet management.
Experience designing, analyzing, or operating autonomous systems in cislunar, GEO, or other high-energy orbital environments.
Active TS//SCI security clearance.

Responsibilities

Collaborate with customers, stakeholders, systems engineering, architecture, hardware, and software teams to identify and track cross-functional autonomy deliverables.
Author proposal documents for national security customers, civil government agencies, and commercial entities pursuing advanced on-orbit autonomous operations.
Coordinate with Guidance, Navigation & Control (GNC), Astrodynamics and Trajectory Execution (ATX), Flight Software, Telecommunications, and Sensor/Payload teams on trade studies for autonomous maneuver planning, RPO sequencing, and fleet-level coordination.
Establish goals and metrics to identify opportunities to deliver autonomous system solutions that meet cost, performance, and schedule requirements.
Assess fleet-level autonomy and RPO performance against current and future mission scenarios, including coordinated observation, spectrum/beam management, network/mesh routing, and graceful degradation.
Inform autonomy performance, risk, and operations for scheduled missions, including ConOps development, ground systems feasibility, and human-machine teaming frameworks.
Lead development of on-orbit autonomy architectures for autonomous rendezvous, proximity operations, and multi-spacecraft coordination, including requirements definition, trade studies, and roadmap planning.
Lead definition and development of full-lifecycle autonomy, including initialization, service orbit attainment, predictive health and degradation monitoring, over-the-air software updates, and end-of-life/deorbit.
Create high-level verification and testing processes and procedures to ensure compliance with requirements.
Mentor and train program personnel so that the autonomy approach, philosophy, and technology are understood and implemented to deliver required capabilities and customer value.
Support autonomous operations during live mission activities, including real-time monitoring of autonomous maneuver execution, anomaly response, and fleet state management.

Benefits

Medical insurance
Dental insurance
Vision insurance
Basic and supplemental life insurance
Paid parental leave
Short- and long-term disability
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
Paid time off of up to four weeks per year based on weekly scheduled hours
Up to 14 company-paid holidays
Depending on role type and job level, employees may be eligible for benefits and bonuses based on individual contributions and company results; amounts and eligibility are not guaranteed.