Senior Perception & Navigation Engineer – Spacecraft Autonomy

Approach Venture; Golden (CO); On-site; USD 160,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Approach Venture in Golden, CO is seeking a Lead Perception & Navigation Engineer to own the perception and navigation architecture for autonomous proximity operations of a new generation of spacecraft. You will lead development of relative navigation, state estimation, sensor fusion, and perception systems from sensing to control, collaborating with avionics, embedded software, and flight hardware teams.

This hands-on leadership role covers algorithms, simulation, testing, and hardware

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in a technical field related to perception, navigation or autonomy.
• 4 years of professional experience in perception, navigation, state estimation, sensor fusion, or related algorithm development.
• Strong understanding of real-time state estimation and probabilistic filtering.
• Experience deploying algorithms onto physical robotic or aerospace systems.
• Ability to own a technically complex subsystem from requirements to testing and deployment.

Responsibilities

• Lead architecture and development of the spacecraft perception and navigation stack.
• Own relative navigation and state estimation for rendezvous and proximity operations.
• Develop real-time algorithms for relative position, velocity, attitude, pose, and motion estimation.
• Design multi-sensor fusion architectures using EKF/UKF and related estimation techniques.
• Define sensing requirements and characterize sensor suites for autonomous relative navigation.
• Build flight-ready navigation and perception software in C and Python.
• Integrate algorithms into onboard flight software and embedded environments.
• Validate performance through software-in-the-loop and hardware-in-the-loop testing.

Skills

C development

Python development

Real-time state estimation

Sensor fusion

Probabilistic filtering

Ownership & leadership

Education

Bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering, electrical engineering, robotics, computer science, physics, mathematics, or related field

Master’s degree or PhD in robotics, aerospace engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, physics, or related discipline

Job description

Lead Perception & Navigation Engineer – Build the autonomy stack for next-generation spacecraft

Golden, Colorado | On-site

Opportunity Summary

Join a well‑funded, seed‑stage space startup developing a new class of spacecraft designed to autonomously interact, assemble, and operate together in orbit. The platform depends on multiple spacecraft elements being able to detect one another, estimate relative position and motion, navigate in close proximity, and execute autonomous rendezvous and docking with a high degree of reliability. As the Lead Perception & Navigation Engineer, you will own the perception and navigation architecture that makes this autonomy possible. You will lead development of the relative navigation, state estimation, sensor fusion, and perception systems that allow spacecraft to understand where they are relative to one another and safely close the loop from sensing through control. This is a hands‑on technical leadership role with broad ownership across algorithms, sensor requirements, simulation, flight software, testing, and hardware integration. You will define the system from the ground up and work closely with controls, avionics, embedded software, and spacecraft systems engineers to bring autonomous proximity operations into flight.

About Us

We are a well‑funded, seed‑stage space technology company building modular spacecraft systems designed to operate collaboratively in orbit. Our team is developing the hardware and autonomy required for individual spacecraft elements to rendezvous, connect, and ultimately operate as a larger integrated vehicle. The company is moving toward flight demonstrations and expanding the core engineering team responsible for turning this architecture into an operational spacecraft platform.

Job Duties

• Lead the architecture and development of the spacecraft perception and navigation stack
• Own relative navigation and state estimation for rendezvous, proximity operations, approach, and docking
• Develop real‑time algorithms for relative position, velocity, attitude, pose, and motion estimation
• Design and implement multi‑sensor fusion architectures using EKF, UKF, nonlinear estimation, and related techniques
• Define sensing requirements including accuracy, update rate, latency, field of view, calibration, observability, and measurement quality
• Help select and characterize the sensor suite used for autonomous relative navigation
• Develop perception algorithms that convert raw sensor measurements into reliable relative‑state information
• Build measurement and observation models for ranging, bearing, pose, and other relative‑navigation inputs
• Own the technical interface between perception, navigation, guidance, and control
• Establish navigation accuracy and uncertainty budgets required for stable closed‑loop spacecraft operations
• Develop sensor calibration, debiasing, outlier rejection, residual monitoring, and fault‑handling approaches
• Build simulation environments to evaluate navigation and autonomy performance across nominal and off‑nominal scenarios
• Develop flight‑ready navigation and perception software in C and Python
• Integrate algorithms into onboard flight software and embedded computing environments
• Validate system performance through software‑in‑the‑loop and hardware‑in‑the‑loop testing
• Close the full perception‑to‑control loop on flight‑like hardware
• Analyze estimator performance, covariance consistency, sensor behavior, and navigation uncertainty
• Develop autonomous capabilities that allow spacecraft to perceive, approach, align with, and interact with another vehicle
• Define system requirements and technical roadmaps for future generations of spacecraft perception and navigation
• Support flight operations, telemetry analysis, on‑orbit performance monitoring, and anomaly investigations
• Contribute to absolute spacecraft navigation and orbit‑state estimation after multiple spacecraft are operating as a combined vehicle

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering, electrical engineering, robotics, computer science, physics, mathematics, or a related technical field
• 4 years of professional experience in perception, navigation, state estimation, sensor fusion, autonomy, or closely related algorithm development
• Strong understanding of real‑time state estimation and probabilistic filtering
• Experience developing systems that estimate position, pose, motion, or state from real‑world sensor data
• Strong background in sensor fusion, uncertainty propagation, observability, covariance analysis, and estimator tuning
• Experience developing measurement models and integrating multiple sensing modalities into navigation systems
• Strong C and Python development skills
• Experience deploying algorithms onto physical robotic, autonomous, aerospace, or embedded systems
• Ability to take ownership of a technically complex subsystem from requirements and architecture through implementation and testing
• Ability to work independently and make sound technical decisions in a fast‑moving startup environment

Preferred Experience

• Experience building perception or navigation systems for spacecraft, autonomous vehicles, drones, robotics, or other autonomous platforms
• Experience with relative navigation, rendezvous, proximity operations, docking, formation flight, or multi‑agent systems
• Background in computer vision, visual navigation, visual‑inertial odometry, relative pose estimation, or feature‑based perception
• Deep experience with Kalman filtering, EKF, UKF, nonlinear estimation, covariance tuning, residual analysis, adaptive estimation, or related techniques
• Experience working with optical, camera, range, RF, inertial, or other navigation sensors
• Experience with sensor characterization, calibration, debiasing, image processing, and measurement processing
• Familiarity with SLAM, localization, tracking, mapping, or other robotics perception methods
• Experience developing autonomous decision‑making or closed‑loop robotic behaviors
• Experience with hardware‑in‑the‑loop testing and high‑fidelity simulation
• Familiarity with embedded software development and real‑time computing constraints
• Understanding of spacecraft dynamics, orbital mechanics, orbit determination, or high‑fidelity orbit propagation
• Master’s or PhD in robotics, aerospace engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, physics, or a related discipline
• Experience taking a perception, navigation, or autonomy system from early development through real‑world deployment

Why Join Us

• Own a mission‑critical spacecraft perception and navigation capability from the ground up
• Define the architecture rather than inherit a mature or legacy system
• Work across perception, autonomy, GNC, avionics, embedded software, simulation, and flight hardware
• Apply robotics and autonomous systems technology to a new class of spacecraft
• Join a well‑funded seed‑stage company as it moves toward flight demonstrations and operational systems
• Meaningful equity ownership
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Short‑and‑long‑term disability insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid parental leave
• Three weeks of paid vacation
• 10 paid holidays per year

Compensation Details

$160,000 – $190,000

LI-AV