Chief Engineer, Space Vehicle Autonomy & SDA

Blue Origin; Denver (CO); On-site; USD 202,000 - 283,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance provided

Travel about 25% of the time

Competitive benefits package

Job summary

Blue Origin is seeking a Chief Engineer, Space Vehicle Autonomy, to lead the architecture, design, and maturation of autonomous decision-making systems for satellite platforms. You will bridge traditional autonomy with AI/ML and computer vision, ensuring SDA across programs and interfaces with GN&C, perception, and systems engineering.

The role requires steering autonomy strategy, verification, and risk balance in contested space environments, with travel ~25% for customer engagements and

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science degree in engineering-related field.
• Minimum 20 years of advanced spacecraft design, development, or analysis experience.
• Demonstrated experience as a technical authority or chief engineer on complex spacecraft/autonomy programs.
• Deep understanding of traditional autonomy mechanisms and AI/ML/CNN-based approaches.
• Active TS security clearance or eligibility; ability to obtain clearance.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the technical authority for space vehicle autonomy, setting architecture and strategy for onboard autonomous decision-making.
• Define and evolve the autonomy architecture across rule-based and AI/ML methods.
• Provide direction on Observe-Orient-Decide-Act (OODA) loop for Rendezvous and Proximity Operations missions.
• Integrate Space Domain Awareness principles into onboard autonomy for space environments.
• Lead perception stacks, sensor fusion, relative navigation, and vision-based pose estimation.
• Oversee MLOps pipelines, data curation, model validation, and lifecycle management for ML/AI models.
• Define verification strategy across SIL/HIL test campaigns and flight integration.
• Chair Engineering and Failure Review Boards, resolving gaps between designs and tests.
• Collaborate with GN&C, perception, software, and systems engineering to unify autonomy and navigation.
• Drive innovation in autonomy practices and stay current with AI/ML advances.

Skills

Autonomy architecture

AI/ML integration

Fault management

OODA loop

Systems engineering collaboration

Education

Bachelor of Science in Engineering

Master's degree preferred

Tools

SIL/HIL testing

MLOps pipelines

CNN-based perception

Job description

Blue Origin is seeking a Chief Engineer, Space Vehicle Autonomy, to lead the architecture, design, and maturation of autonomous decision-making systems for satellite platforms. You will bridge traditional autonomy with AI/ML and computer vision, ensuring SDA across programs and interfaces with GN&C, perception, and systems engineering.

The role requires steering autonomy strategy, verification, and risk balance in contested space environments, with travel ~25% for customer engagements and