Principal Flight Autonomy Architect - Lunar (R38565)

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!  

This role is part of the Lunar Permanence 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. 

We are a diverse team of collaborators, doers, and problem-solvers who are relentlessly committed to a culture of safety. This position will directly impact the history of space exploration and will require your commitment and detailed attention towards safe and repeatable space flight. Join us in lowering the cost of access to space and enabling Blue Origin’s vision of millions of people living and working in space to benefit Earth.  

As part of a hardworking team of diverse spacecraft development engineers, you will be responsible for the Flight Autonomy and Local Autonomy Application activities within the Guidance Navigation and Control (GN&C) team for multiple vehicles. Your responsibilities will include creating and describing a vision for autonomy architecture to internal and external customers. In this role, you will use your experience to plan, coordinate, and inspire the work and team members of multiple vehicles, ensuring cohesion across the architectural design.

You will work directly with NASA and our National Team Partners as part of the Human Landing System (HLS) Sustaining Lunar Development (SLD) program. You will play a key role in developing the Lunar Transportation system that will return humans to the Moon and extend human presence permanently beyond the bounds of Earth.  

We are looking for someone to apply their technical expertise, leadership skills, and commitment to quality to positively impact safe human spaceflight. Passion for our mission and vision is required! 

Responsibilities:

• Develop, document, and communicate the autonomy architecture for multiple missions and vehicles
• Plan and coordinate technical work, providing prioritization to team members
• Ensure cohesion between the architecture of multiple lunar missions and vehicles
• Collaborate with GN&C and other subsystems and spacecraft systems engineers to assist in the development of low- and high-fidelity models
• Create high-level verification and testing processes and procedures that ensure compliance to requirements
• Provide technical review of control and autonomy algorithms in Matlab and Simulink
• Mentor and technically assist other engineers

Minimum Qualifications:

• Minimum of a B.S. in aerospace, mechanical, or electrical engineering
• Applied industry experience and/or M.S. or Ph.D. focused on development of spacecraft autonomy and controls
• Proven experience in full lifecycle development of GN&C and/or Autonomy on spacecraft
• Familiarity with flight management, guidance, control, navigation, and astrodynamics fundamentals
• Experience in Matlab, Simulink, and Stateflow
• Experience designing, evaluating, and simulating state machines
• Experience architecting safety-critical autonomous systems
• Experience developing embedded control systems for complex aerospace systems
• Proven leadership and mentoring experience for medium or large teams
• Excellent written and verbal 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

Preferred Qualifications:

• M.S. or PhD in aerospace engineering or related technical field
• Experience with collaboration tools such as Confluence and JIRA
• Experience with proposal support and leadership (technical/management volumes, Task Description/Basis–of–Estimate development, etc.)
• Experience working with and proposing to U.S. Government research agencies (e.g. NASA, AFRL, DARPA)
• Familiarity with DO-178, DO-160, and DO-254 or similar guidelines

Compensation range for on site CA applicants is$198,993—$278,590.20 USD

Inclusivity Statement

Don’t meet all desired requirements? Studies have shown that some people are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single desired qualification. At Blue Origin, we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align p