Senior GNC Engineer — Mission Formulation

Rocket Lab USA; Littleton (CO); On-site; USD 120,000 - 176,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Cash incentives

Employee stock purchase program

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

401(k) retirement plan

Paid vacation, holidays, and sickleave

Paid parental leave

Job summary

Rocket Lab USA in Littleton, Colorado, seeks a GNC Engineer II or Senior GNC Engineer I to design, model and test guidance, navigation and control for launch programs. You will conduct trade studies, assist in mission analyses, and implement detailed GNC designs across programs and missions.

The role involves collaboration with multiple teams, development of flight code, and analysis for both classified and unclassified missions. A security clearance is required or achievable.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and 2+ years of industry experience in GNC/ADCS
• Understanding of orbital mechanics and/or closed‑loop control systems, preferably launch vehicles
• Experience with trajectory optimization
• Proven experience developing real‑time control and/or estimation algorithms in autonomous vehicles, preferably launch vehicles
• Active Secret security clearance OR Ability to obtain and maintain one

Responsibilities

• GNC contact to Business Development for proposals and mission definition
• Launch and mission operational concept development
• Orbital and suborbital trajectory design and analysis
• Work with external stakeholders and customers for mission‑specific requirements engineering
• Document proposed GNC solutions and participate in design reviews with customers
• Support hardware‑in‑the‑loop (HITL) testing to verify trajectories, GNC, and flight code performance
• Conduct Monte Carlo simulation analyses to define and verify launch and mission operations
• Develop and support release of flight code for pre‑launch ground testing, launch, and mission operations
• Develop tools and processes for automating common GNC modelling and analysis tasks

Skills

GNC/ADCS

Orbital mechanics

Trajectory optimization

Real-time control

Security clearance

Education

Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field

Tools

Python

C/C++

MATLAB

SciPy

ASTOS

Git version control

Job description

Rocket Lab USA in Littleton, Colorado, seeks a GNC Engineer II or Senior GNC Engineer I to design, model and test guidance, navigation and control for launch programs. You will conduct trade studies, assist in mission analyses, and implement detailed GNC designs across programs and missions.

The role involves collaboration with multiple teams, development of flight code, and analysis for both classified and unclassified missions. A security clearance is required or achievable.