Flight Dynamics Software Engineer

Frontdoor Defense; San Francisco (CA); In loco; USD 175.000 - 210.000; Tempo pieno

Vantaggi offerti da questo lavoro

Medical insurance for employees and 2

Dental and vision insurance

401(k) plan and equity options

Relocation assistance

Parental leave

Descrizione del lavoro

Loft Orbital is seeking a Flight Dynamics Software Engineer to build and maintain flight dynamics backend and orbit-maneuver algorithms for its satellite fleet. You will implement and improve orbit determination, propagation, and maneuver planning, and support mission requirements with astrodynamics expertise.

You will collaborate with mission engineers to translate requirements into operational in-orbit outcomes, contribute to open-source tooling, and participate in a fast-paced, international

Competenze

• Bachelor’s degree in physics or an engineering discipline.
• Deep understanding of orbital mechanics, state estimation, maneuver planning, conjunction assessment, and attitude modeling.
• Fundamentals of numerical methods: solvers, optimization, and simulation techniques.
• Experience with designing and developing software libraries and backend services, preferably in Python.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Mansioni

• Implement and improve algorithms for orbit determination and propagation, maneuver planning, and collision avoidance.
• Develop and maintain in-house flight dynamics ground software that computes and serves ephemerides, maneuvers, and conjunctions.
• Interface with systems and mission engineers to translate mission requirements into operational outcomes.
• Support satellite operations engineers with astrodynamics expertise during LEOP, anomalies, and conjunction responses.

Conoscenze

Orbital mechanics

State estimation

Maneuver planning

Conjunction assessment

Attitude modeling

Numerical methods

Python

Communication skills

Formazione

Bachelor's degree in physics or engineering

Strumenti

STK

Astrogator

GMAT

OreKit

OpenSpaceToolkit

Descrizione del lavoro

Flight Dynamics Software Engineer

Build and maintain flight dynamics backend and orbit-maneuver algorithms for Loft’s satellite fleet

Location: San Francisco, California

Compensation: $175,000 - 210,000 USD / year

About The Role

Flight Dynamics Software Engineer

Loft Orbital is looking for a Flight Dynamics Software Engineer to join the Ground Platform organization.

You’ll work on a small and driven team, developing our flight dynamics software stack so that it can:

• Scale to fly 50+ satellites in orbit in a highly automated, reliable, and safe (from a collision avoidance perspective) manner
• Enable new conops and customer missions with demanding orbit determination, stationkeeping, and attitude performance requirements

We’re looking for someone with a solid theoretical understanding of astrodynamics, operational flight-dynamics experience, and software-engineering foundations. If you enjoy solving hard problems and working in a fast-paced and supportive environment, we’d love to hear from you.

About this role:

• Implement and improve upon algorithms for orbit determination, orbit propagation, maneuver planning (stationkeeping/orbit transfer), conjunction assessment, collision avoidance, and attitude modeling, contributing to our open-source astrodynamics tooling that powers both flight operations and simulation work across the company
• Develop and maintain the in-house flight dynamics ground software backend applications that compute, store, and serve our fleet’s ephemerides, maneuvers, conjunctions, target orbits, etc
• Interface with systems and mission engineers to help translate technical mission requirements and customer demands into operational outcomes in orbit
• Support satellite operations engineers by providing astrodynamics expertise during LEOP/anomalies/conjunction response and assisting with configuring our software stack for various customer missions

Must Haves:

• Bachelor’s degree in physics or an engineering discipline
• Deep technical understanding of some of the following topics: orbital mechanics, state estimation, spacecraft maneuver planning, conjunction assessment, and spacecraft attitude modeling
• Fundamentals of numerical methods: solvers, optimization, and simulation techniques
• Experience with designing and developing software libraries and backend services, preferably in Python.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal

Nice to Haves:

• Master’s degree in physics or an engineering discipline
• Proficiency in astrodynamics tools such as STK, Astrogator, GMAT, OreKit, Monte, Copernicus, OpenSpaceToolkit, or equivalent.
• Demonstrated practical experience in spacecraft constellation flight dynamics operations
• Demonstrated practical experience building high-performance backend software applications and/or libraries
• Capable of solving complex problems within a highly collaborative environment

Some of Our Awesome Benefits:

• 100% company-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance option for employees and dependents
• Flexible Spending (FSA) and Health Savings (HSA) Accounts offered with an employer contribution to the HSA
• 100% employer paid Life, AD&D, Short-Term, and Long-Term Disability insurance
• Flexible Time Off policy for vacation and sick leave, and 12 paid holidays
• 401(k) plan and equity options
• Daily catered lunches and snacks
• International exposure to our team in France
• Fully paid parental leave; 14 weeks for primary caregiver and 10 weeks for secondary caregiver
• Carrot Fertility provides comprehensive, inclusive fertility healthcare and family-forming benefits with financial support
• Off-sites and many social events and celebrations
• Relocation assistance when applicable

$175,000 - $210,000 a year State law requires us to tell you the base compensation range for this role, which is $175,000- $210,000 per year. This is determined by your education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities. The salary range for this role is intentionally wide as we evaluate individuals based on their unique experience and abilities to fit our needs. Most importantly, we are excited to meet you, and see if you are a great fit for our team.

Who We Are

Loft: Space Made Simple.

Founded in 2017, Loft provides governments, companies, and research institutions with a fast, reliable, and simple way to deploy missions in orbit.

We integrate, launch, and operate spacecraft, offering end-to-end missions as a service across Earth observation, IoT connectivity, on-orbit AI, national security missions, and more. Leveraging our existing space infrastructure and an extensive inventory of satellite buses, Loft is reducing years-long integration and launch timelines to months. With more than 30 missions flown, Loft's flight heritage and proven technologies enable customers to focus on their mission objectives.

With a growing fleet on track to reach 30 satellites by 2027, we are scaling up quickly across our offices in San Francisco, CA | Golden, CO | and Toulouse, France to meet accelerating demand for space infrastructure.

As an international company your resume will be reviewed by people across our offices so please attach a copy in English.