Senior GN&C Engineer: Guidance & Flight Controls

Blue Origin; Merritt Island (FL); On-site; USD 181,626 - 276,540; Full time

Job summary

Blue Origin, Merritt Island, FL, is seeking a senior GN&C engineer to advance guidance and flight control for lunar missions. You will design guidance algorithms, perform trajectory analyses, and validate control laws for Earth-to-lunar transport.

You will implement software in Rust, C/C++, and Python, collaborate across subsystems, and contribute to safe, reliable spaceflight with a strong culture of safety and teamwork.

Qualifications

• B.S. degree in Aerospace Engineering or Physics with 12+ years of experience or M.S. with 10+ years of experience.
• Deep knowledge of astrodynamics, orbital mechanics, attitude kinematics and dynamics.
• Demonstrated subject matter expertise in spacecraft guidance, including maneuver planning, targeting, and optimization.
• Established background in GN&C algorithm development specifically for flight and attitude control using classical and modern control methods.
• Knowledgeable in frequency domain analysis techniques.
• Robust understanding of controller stability derivatives and stability margins with respect to spacecraft dynamics, flexible body dynamics, and slosh dynamics.
• Demonstrated experience with control law design for aerospace vehicles.
• Familiarity with development of requirements, interfaces, trades and analyses for aerospace GN&C applications.
• Understand the relationship between attitude control, vehicle configuration, spacecraft dynamics, actuators, sensors, and automation.
• Hands‑on development with C/C++.
• Experience with collaboration tools such as Gitlab, Confluence, and JIRA.
• Strong grasp of software and data configuration management techniques and tools.
• Highly organized teammate with excellent technical written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to earn trust, maintain positive and professional relationships, and give to a culture of safety.

Responsibilities

• Derive spacecraft guidance designs from mission level trajectory designs.
• Coordinate performance requirements between GN&C and mission planning.
• Develop and maintain both established and bespoke guidance algorithms for orbital maneuvers in various Earth and cis-lunar orbits, including rendezvous, proximity operations, and docking (RPOD) maneuvers.
• Develop and sustain flight control algorithms for spacecraft operating complex missions.
• Perform trade studies for efficient and robust maneuver targeting sequences, including nominal and contingency maneuvers during RPOD.
• Perform trade studies driving maturity of detailed spacecraft and mission design.
• Collaborate with communication, propulsion, structures, fluids, and mechanisms subsystems to ensure system level design closure.
• Develop and maintain software for flight systems and simulations.
• Integrate and test software in SIL and HIL environments.
• Implement controls algorithms and subsystem component models in an integrated 6-DOF simulation environment using Rust, C/C++, and Python.
• Develop toolsets for automated requirements, configuration, and performance analyses.
• Support internal and external reviews with data products and reports.

Skills

C/C++

GN&C algorithms

Astrodynamics

Trajectory optimization

Flight software

Rust

Python

GitLab

Confluence

JIRA

Education

B.S. in Aerospace Engineering or Physics

M.S. in Aerospace Engineering or Physics

Tools

GitLab

Confluence

JIRA

Job description

Blue Origin, Merritt Island, FL, is seeking a senior GN&C engineer to advance guidance and flight control for lunar missions. You will design guidance algorithms, perform trajectory analyses, and validate control laws for Earth-to-lunar transport.

You will implement software in Rust, C/C++, and Python, collaborate across subsystems, and contribute to safe, reliable spaceflight with a strong culture of safety and teamwork.