Principal Satellite Flight and Mission Dynamics Engineer

MDA; Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue; On-site; CAD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

MDA is seeking a principal flight and mission dynamics engineer to lead orbit design, trajectory analysis, flight dynamics modeling, and operational support for current and future satellite missions.

You will develop high-fidelity analyses and software, provide technical leadership through the life cycle, and collaborate with clients and multidisciplinary teams to translate mission objectives into robust orbital concepts and operational solutions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor degree in aerospace engineering or related field.
• 10+ years of astrodynamics and flight dynamics experience after graduation.
• Strong programming in Python, MATLAB, or C#.
• Proven ability to lead complex analyses with minimal supervision.
• Excellent written and oral communication in English.

Responsibilities

• Translate mission objectives into flight dynamics requirements and verification criteria.
• Lead technical exchanges with clients and internal teams to define orbital concepts.
• Design and optimize mission orbits, transfers, station-keeping and decommissioning trajectories.
• Assess dispersions, propellant budgets, debris mitigation, and lifetime constraints.
• Develop high-fidelity orbital models, state estimation, and trajectory optimization.
• Automate analyses using STK with Python, MATLAB, or C# and validate results.
• Provide technical leadership, mentoring, and cross-functional collaboration.
• Support CONOPS, mission phases, and operation scenario development.
• Support on-orbit operations and performance evaluation.

Skills

Python

MATLAB

C#

Orbital mechanics

Trajectory design

Data analysis

Education

Bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering or physics

Graduate degree (MS/PhD) asset

Tools

STK

MATLAB

C#

Job description

MDA is looking for a principal flight and mission dynamics engineer to lead orbit design, trajectory analysis, flight dynamics modeling, maneuver planning, orbit determination, and operational flight dynamics support for current and next-generation satellite missions. The engineer will participate in the development and validation of high-fidelity analyses and software, provide technical leadership throughout the mission life cycle, and collaborate with clients and multidisciplinary teams to translate mission objectives into reliable orbital concepts and operational solutions. This position also offers the opportunity to contribute to the mission concept of operations (CONOPS), mission scenarios, and broader mission analysis activities.

Summary of duties:

Flight dynamics requirements and mission definition

• Translate mission objectives, satellite capabilities, launch constraints, and operational needs into flight dynamics requirements, assumptions, and verification criteria.
• Lead technical exchanges with clients, satellite and payload teams, ground segment teams, and mission operations to define orbital and maneuver concepts.

Orbit and trajectory design

• Design and optimize mission orbits, transfers, station-keeping strategies, decommissioning trajectories, and satellite maneuvers using impulse and low-thrust methods where applicable.
• Assess dispersions during orbit insertion, orbit acquisition, collision avoidance, propellant budgets, orbital lifetime, atmospheric re‑entry, and compliance with applicable debris mitigation constraints.

Flight dynamics modeling, analysis, and software

• Develop and maintain high-fidelity models for orbital propagation, forces, maneuvers, covariance, and estimation for Earth orbit missions and other applicable mission regimes.
• Perform orbit determination, state estimation, tracking data evaluation, uncertainty analysis, and flight dynamics performance characterization.
• Develop, automate, and validate analyses using STK or similar tools, combined with Python, MATLAB, or C#.
• Contribute to overall mission analysis, including coverage, access, re‑observation, illumination, eclipses, communication geometry, constellation design, and mission performance evaluation.

Cross-functional coordination, stakeholder interaction, and programs

• Communicate assumptions, analyses, risks, margins, and flight dynamics recommendations to clients, partners, technical authorities, and program managers.
• Support comparative analyses relating to satellites, payloads, guidance, navigation and control systems, propulsion, ground segment, and mission operations that depend on orbital performance.
• Contribute to the mission concept of operations (CONOPS) by defining mission phases, orbital events, maneuver sequences, operational schedules, ground contacts, constraints, and contingency scenarios.

Technical leadership and mentoring

• Provide technical leadership for complex flight dynamics activities, including planning, peer review, independent verification, and anomaly resolution.
• Mentor junior engineers and interns, promoting good practices in astrodynamics, modeling, software development, and analysis.
• Ensure technical liaison with clients, partners, launch service providers, and external suppliers.
• Promote reusable methods, automation, engineering standards, lessons learned, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Support proposals, Phase 0 and pre‑Phase A studies, technology roadmaps, and flight dynamics capability development.

On-orbit operations and exploitation support

• Support launch operations and early on‑orbit phases, commissioning, routine on‑orbit maintenance, station‑keeping, collision avoidance, decommissioning, and emergency operations.
• Analyze tracking data and on‑orbit performance, investigate anomalies, refine models and estimation parameters, and produce operational performance reports.
• Support operational scenarios, training materials, and contributions to satellite operating manuals.

Required qualifications:

• Bachelor degree in aerospace engineering, physics, applied mathematics, or a closely related field; a graduate degree is an asset.
• At least ten (10) years of relevant professional experience gained after graduation in astrodynamics, orbital mechanics, trajectory design, orbit determination, or satellite flight dynamics.
• Excellent programming and numerical analysis skills with Python, MATLAB, or C#, as well as experience in developing, testing, and validating engineering software.
• Deep proficiency in orbital perturbations, numerical propagation, maneuver design, estimation methods, covariance analysis, and trajectory optimization.
• Proven ability to conduct complex analyses, formulate technically sound recommendations, manage priorities, and work effectively with limited supervision.
• Proven ability to work effectively with limited supervision.
• Ability to break down complex problems into fundamental elements in order to solve them through analysis, parallelization, or creativity.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English; (contact with clients outside Quebec and drafting of deliverables in English).