GNC Engineer II — Mission Formulation & Trajectory

Rocket Lab USA; Littleton (CO); On-site; USD 100,000 - 138,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company stock

Stock Purchase Program

Health insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

401(k) retirement plan

Paid vacation

Paid holidays

Job summary

Rocket Lab USA is seeking a GNC Engineer II in Littleton, CO to join the Mission Formulation team. You will perform trajectory design, modeling, and analyses for launches, partnering with multiple engineering groups and customers.

The role focuses on GNC solutions for both standard and classified missions with rigorous reviews and HITL testing. The position requires a bachelor's degree and 2+ years in GNC/ADCS, with strong fundamentals in orbital mechanics, control systems, and trajectory

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field and 2+ years in GNC/ADCS.
• Understanding of orbital mechanics and/ or closed-loop control systems, ideally for launch vehicles.
• Experience with trajectory optimization.
• Proven experience developing real-time control and/or estimation algorithms for autonomous vehicles/launch vehicles.
• Active Secret security clearance OR ability to obtain one.

Responsibilities

• GNC liaison to Business Development for proposals and mission definition.
• Launch and mission operational concept development.
• Orbital and suborbital trajectory design and analysis.
• Engage with external stakeholders for mission requirements engineering.
• Document GNC solutions and participate in design reviews with customers.
• Support HITL testing to verify trajectories and flight code.
• Conduct Monte Carlo analyses for launch and mission operations.
• Develop and release flight code for pre-launch testing and operations.
• Create tools to automate common GNC modelling and analyses tasks.

Skills

Orbital mechanics

Control systems

Trajectory optimization

Real-time control

Estimation algorithms

Security clearance

Python

MATLAB

SciPy

C/C++

Education

Bachelor's degree in a relevant field

Tools

Git version control

POST/ASTOS/TAOS

Job description

Rocket Lab USA is seeking a GNC Engineer II in Littleton, CO to join the Mission Formulation team. You will perform trajectory design, modeling, and analyses for launches, partnering with multiple engineering groups and customers.

The role focuses on GNC solutions for both standard and classified missions with rigorous reviews and HITL testing. The position requires a bachelor's degree and 2+ years in GNC/ADCS, with strong fundamentals in orbital mechanics, control systems, and trajectory