Civil and Interplanetary Navigation Architect

BLUE ORIGIN • Los Angeles, CA

4d • $133,500 - $203,263

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. As part of a hardworking team of engineers, you will provide leadership across organizations, working end-to-end across payload, vehicle, and ground elements to create space navigation solutions. The Civil and Interplanetary Navigation Architect is responsible for formulating interplanetary navigation strategies for In-Space Systems and the Blue Ring product line. You will also be a primary participant in trade studies and proposal development for civil government customers as well as private entities pursuing Earth and interplanetary science missions. You will interface with civil-space stakeholders for space navigation related topics, including coordination of capability roadmaps, development of mission level requirements, as well as implementation and test activities. You will provide subject matter expertise on ground-based deep-space orbit determination of our vehicle during algorithm development as well as flight operations. We're looking for someone to apply their technical expertise, leadership skills, and commitment to quality to join our team and positively impact the future of space. Passion for our mission and vision is required. Successful candidates will have a technical background, be detail driven, and have excellent problem-solving abilities. You should be passionate about delivering extensible, timely solutions while contributing to the development of high-performance teams through meticulous goal-setting, disciplined attention to performance metrics, and continuous process improvement. If you're excited by providing near-term value, solving novel problems, learning about interesting topics, and completing challenging activities, please apply! Special Mentions: Relocation assistance provided Travel expected: less than 15%

Requirements

• B.S. in Aerospace, Software, Electrical, Mechanical, Physics, Systems Engineering, or related technical subject area
• 10+ years of technical experience developing space mission design and navigation systems
• 10+ years of technical experience in the space navigation domain, including satellite navigation, statistical orbit determination, orbital mechanics, astrodynamics, and trajectory optimization
• Strong background developing space navigation CONOPs, requirements, and interface description documents to flow to element level teams
• Demonstrated experience throughout mission design lifecycle from conceptualization through operational flight
• Applied experience in navigation tools such as Monte, STK/ODTK, FreeFlyer, or GMAT
• Experience developing high-level plans for end-to-end integrated system tests occurring throughout a program's lifecycle
• Outstanding customer relationship skills including the ability to discover the requirements underlying feature requests, recommend alternative technical and business approaches, and lead engineering efforts to meet ambitious timelines with optimal solutions
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills

Nice To Haves

• Ph.D. in Aerospace, Software, Electrical, Mechanical, Physics, Systems Engineering, or related technical subject area
• 15+ years of proven experience focused on mission design and navigation
• Multiple spacecraft missions of operational ground navigation support and/or leadership
• Applied expertise in ground-based satellite navigation and statistical orbit determination processes, including radiometric and GPS
• Experience using the Monte software package
• Experience with electric propulsion satellite missions and/or GPS commercial satellite missions
• Experience with space-based atomic clocks and their application to precision navigation and timing systems
• Experience designing, analyzing, or operating position, navigation, and timing (PNT) constellations in Earth, cislunar, or deep space environments
• Active Top Secret Clearance

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with customers, stakeholders, systems engineering, architecture, hardware, and software teams to ensure cross-functional deliverables are identified and tracked
• Authorship of proposal documents targeting civil government customers as well as private entities pursuing Earth and interplanetary science missions
• Coordinate with Astrodynamics and Trajectory Execution (ATX) to perform detailed trade studies for capture analysis as well as interplanetary trajectory execution
• Establish goals and metrics to identify opportunities to deliver customer solutions to cost, performance, and schedule requirements
• Assess interplanetary navigation and radiometric orbit determination performance against current and future mission scenarios to align with company needs
• Inform interplanetary navigation performance, risk, and operations for scheduled missions, including ConOps development and ground systems feasibility
• Lead the development of cislunar and Mars-centric position, navigation, and timing (PNT) constellation architectures, including requirements definition, trade studies, and roadmap planning
• Mentor and train across the program to ensure approach, philosophy, and technology are understood and implemented so they provide required capabilities and value to our customers
• Support the navigation process during live mission operations, performing orbital estimation, maneuver planning, and maneuver execution

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability, 401(k) with a company match of up to 5%, and an Education Support Program.
• Paid Time Off: Up to four (4) weeks per year based on weekly scheduled hours, and up to 14 company-paid holidays.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level