Senior Mission Design Engineer
About The Position
We are seeking a highly talented, self-motivated Senior Mission Design Engineer (you may also know this as trajectory design, flight dynamics, or astrodynamics) to join our rapidly growing startup. As part of our larger Autonomous Systems team, you will have the technical leadership opportunity to create, design and implement full-cycle mission planning and orbital mechanics profiles for future reentry vehicles, unlocking the future of space factories with rapid flight and entry for next generation products. You will work closely with a top-notch multidisciplinary vehicle engineering team to architect the mission plan and trajectory of the world’s first commercial reentry vehicle, enabling the ability to precision land and return manufactured products to earth. You’ll own and develop modeling and simulation infrastructure and tooling to help ensure trajectory design and reentry profile are accurate, reliable, and safe. You will own the full cycle of mission planning and orbital dynamics development, from requirements definition and design to mission planning and on-orbit and reentry operations. We are looking for engineers who enjoy solving complex and open-ended problems, can work effectively in a fast-paced environment and share our passion in creating in-space industry.
Requirements
- Teamwork skills are necessary to solve problems in a collaborative environment
- Ability to scope projects including requirements capture and initial design trades given open-ended problems
- Develop 6 degree of freedom vehicle simulation using C++ and Python
- Perform trajectory design, optimization, and dispersion analysis for the reentry of a space capsule
- Mission specific analysis for customer launch and in support of business development
- B.S. degree in aerospace, mechanical, electrical engineering, physics, or related field
- 5+ proven years of experience, or PhD with 3+ years of relevant experience
- Demonstrated knowledge in designing, modeling, testing, and flying orbital trajectories or aerospace guidance, navigation, and control systems
- Highly adept software and model development skills, particularly in C++/Python/Matlab
- Understanding of orbital mechanics, modeling and simulation, and software development
- Experience anchoring/fitting first principles models to test data or high-fidelity external simulations
- Proven system engineering and configuration management skills
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
Nice To Haves
- Understanding of multi-body dynamics, flexible body dynamics, gas dynamics, fluids, and thermodynamics
- Experience developing and verifying physical models for the purpose of control design, component sizing, and system performance evaluation
- Experience supporting flight test or flying spacecraft
- Ability to continuously manage risk and provide solutions with lean software development techniques
- Experience with project management for cradle-to-grave projects
- Prior work in a technical leadership role for a launch vehicle or satellite development effort
- Prior work in a startup or agile development environment
- Capability to solve complex problems autonomy as an individual or as a member of an integrated team
- Passion for advancing the commercial space industry
Responsibilities
- Perform trajectory design, optimization, and dispersion analysis for the reentry of a next generation space vehicle
- Design spacecraft trajectories and produce orbital analyses for commercial reentry vehicles
- Optimize trajectories based on fuel, time, and/or performance characteristics
- Work closely with propulsion, software and flight operations teams to ensure vehicle and mission objectives are accomplished in the vehicle design
- Design and implementation of autonomous satellite navigational solutions, collision avoidance, orbital rendezvous, and atmospheric re-entry algorithms
- Running Monte Carlo analysis to characterize performance of new features
- Lead the development of new vehicle capabilities
- Develop and maintain ground-based mission operations tooling in support of automated and scalable on-orbit operations
- Support in-orbit operations as trajectory specialist, including coordination with other spacecraft operators and 3rd party entities
Benefits
- Flexible PTO policy + 12 paid holidays
- 100% company-paid Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance plans for employees and dependents with FSA and employer-matched HSA options
- Voluntary accident, hospital, critical illness, and pet insurance
- $120/month wellness reimbursement for gym and fitness expenses
- 12 weeks of parental leave (with supplemental disability leave for CA mothers)
- Family building, pregnancy, parenting and menopause benefits via Maven Clinic
- Sponsored One Medical memberships for employees and their dependents
- Substantial incentive equity in a fully funded space start-up
- 401(k) retirement plan with 6% employer match (immediately vested)
- $20/pay period cell phone reimbursement
- Relocation support for new hires, if needed
- Fully stocked kitchen with lunch provided daily and dinner provided twice weekly
- Company and team-bonding events, happy hours and mission-success celebrations
- Complimentary EV charging
- Dog-friendly office space
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
