Lead Autonomous Navigation Engineer – Deep Space Missions

Blue Origin; Washington; On-site; USD 183,000 - 256,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock Options

Paid Time Off

Education Support Program

Job summary

Blue Origin in the United States seeks a Principal Autonomous Navigation Engineer on the ATX team to define onboard navigation architecture for deep space missions, integrating optical and radiometric data into autonomous orbit determination for cislunar and interplanetary operations.

You will mentor a growing team, drive algorithm development from concept through flight, collaborate with GNC, avionics, flight software, and operations, and support ground-based orbit determination during early

Qualifications

• M.S. in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related field.
• 10+ years of proven experience in spacecraft navigation, orbit determination, or related astrodynamics disciplines.
• Experience with optical navigation techniques (e.g., camera calibration, optical centroiding, terrain-relative navigation, star-based navigation, landmark tracking).
• Strong fundamentals in astrodynamics, orbital mechanics, and estimation theory.
• Experience with navigation tools such as Monte, STK/ODTK, FreeFlyer, or GMAT.
• Experience in at least one of the following: Python, Julia, or C++.
• Ability to define navigation requirements.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Define the end-to-end autonomous onboard navigation architecture for mission design across cislunar and interplanetary regimes.
• Own the development and integration of optical and radiometric processing into onboard algorithms; drive the roadmap from concept to flight.
• Define long-range strategy for onboard navigation capability maturation, particularly in deep space regimes with limited ground contact.
• Contribute to live ground-based orbit determination alongside the ATX team during operational missions.
• Apply statistical orbit determination using radiometric and optical measurements for early lunar and Mars missions as autonomy matures.
• Interface with GNC, avionics, flight software, systems engineering, and flight operations for proper integration and validation.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to navigation engineers; establish best practices for algorithm development, testing, and verification.
• Present results and support critical design reviews using Agile development methodologies.

Skills

Astrodynamics

Navigation algorithms

Python/Julia/C++

Optical navigation

Radiometric navigation

GNC/Flight software

Mentoring

Agile/DevOps

Communication

Education

M.S. in Aerospace/Mechanical/Electrical Engineering or related field

Tools

Monte

STK/ODTK

FreeFlyer

GMAT

Jira

Git

Jenkins

Docker

Job description

Blue Origin in the United States seeks a Principal Autonomous Navigation Engineer on the ATX team to define onboard navigation architecture for deep space missions, integrating optical and radiometric data into autonomous orbit determination for cislunar and interplanetary operations.

You will mentor a growing team, drive algorithm development from concept through flight, collaborate with GNC, avionics, flight software, and operations, and support ground-based orbit determination during early