Senior GNC Engineer — Mission Formulation & Trajectory

Rocket Lab USA; Littleton (CO); On-site; USD 116,000 - 187,000; Full time

Job summary

Rocket Lab USA in Littleton, CO is seeking a Senior GNC Engineer I/II for Mission Formulation. You’ll perform GNC design, modeling, analyses, and testing for launches and missions as part of the GLS Mission Formulation Team.

You will conduct trades studies, mission analyses, and implement detailed designs for launches, including classified missions on HASTE and Electron vehicles. Strong collaboration and independent work are valued in this role.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and 5+ years of 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 expertise

Trajectory optimization

Real-time control algorithms

Python development

MATLAB/SciPy

Git version control

Strong communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in GNC/ADCS or related field

Tools

Python

MATLAB

SciPy

C/C++

POST/ASTOS/TAOS

Job description

Rocket Lab USA in Littleton, CO is seeking a Senior GNC Engineer I/II for Mission Formulation. You’ll perform GNC design, modeling, analyses, and testing for launches and missions as part of the GLS Mission Formulation Team.

You will conduct trades studies, mission analyses, and implement detailed designs for launches, including classified missions on HASTE and Electron vehicles. Strong collaboration and independent work are valued in this role.