Deorbit, Descent & Landing Phase Lead, MK1 - Lunar Transportation

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 diverse team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight!  

Lunar Transportation: This role is part of the Lunar Transportation business unit, which develops Blue Origin’s multiple Blue Moon lander product lines. To further Blue Origin's mission of having millions of people living and working in space, we are building sustainable infrastructure for our transport of crew and cargo from Earth to the lunar surface.   

As part of a hardworking team of diverse specialists, technicians, and engineers you will lead the Deorbit Descent and Landing (DDL) Phase for the MK1 lunar lander missions. You are the single threaded leader for that phase of the mission and own the driving requirements, system design, and operations approach for landing on the Moon. You will design and execute the program-level certification program demonstrating the system landing capability. This position will directly impact the history of space exploration and will require your dedicated commitment and detailed attention towards safe and repeatable spaceflight.

 

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Responsible for success of the Deorbit Descent and Landing Phase
• Define the mission conops, activities, and design reference missions for the Deorbit, descent and Landing mission phase.
• Define and develop scenarios (nominal and off nominal) for your phase.
• Define the vehicle and ground requirements necessary to successfully execute the mission phase.
• Define validation plan for the mission phase.
• Work with operations to define the operations approaches and plans to execute the mission phase.
• Manage the execution of the verification and validation for the mission phase coordinating with the program and lander integration and test teams.
• Identify and track key performance metrics within the mission phase.
• Identify, manage, and mitigate risks within the mission phase.
• Define and execute a technical review plan for the mission phase.

 

Minimum Qualifications:

• B.S. in aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, physics, or related technical discipline
• Experience in the full lifecycle development of aerospace systems, including requirement definition, design solution definition, implementation, integration, verification and validation, qualification, commissioning, and operations.
• Understanding of the principles, concepts, and methods of system engineering complex systems
• Experience defining and performing complex trade studies.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to work collaboratively in a fast paced, dynamic work environment.
• 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.

 

Preferred Qualifications:

• M.S. or PhD in aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, physics, or related technical field
• 10+ years relevant experience with at least 4 years spent leading a complex multi-disciplinary team.
• Demonstrated experience with NASA lunar, deep space, or planetary missions.
• Demonstrated experience with Entry Descent and Landing for planetary or Earth return missions.
• Experience with GN&C system design and analysis
• Experience with dynamics modeling of mechanical systems.
• Experience with MBSE methods and tools including SysML or Cameo
• Experience with requirements definition and management, preferably using JAMA
• Demonstrated experience with fault-tolerance strategies and architectures for safety and mission critical systems.
• Experience with defining and implementing spacecraft autonomy.
• Experience with modeling and simulation tools, preferably MATLAB/Simulink
• Experience with collaboration tools such as Confluence and JIRA
• Experience with configuration and product data management tools, preferably Windchill
• Experience with designing and executing Monte Carlo analyses.
• Experience with hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) and software-in-the-loop (SIL) testing
• Experience with risk management including identifying risks and developing mitigation plans.

Compensation range for on site WA applicants is$146,644.50—$205,302.30 USD

Inclusivity Statement

Don’t meet all desired requirements? Studies