Senior Space Trajectory & Flight Dynamics Engineer

Rocket Lab; Littleton (CO); Hybrid; USD 135,000 - 175,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

401(k) retirement plan

Paid vacation, holidays, and sickleave

Paid parental leave

Job summary

Rocket Lab in Littleton, CO is seeking a Senior Flight Dynamics Engineer II to lead trajectory design for Earth orbiting, lunar, and interplanetary missions. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams to validate guidance profiles and support real-time operations, delivering data products for readiness reviews.

The role requires 8+ years in mission design and a strong background in orbital mechanics, Kalman filtering, and flight dynamics. U.S.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace, Space Systems, or an equivalent Engineering or Applied Physics degree.
• 8+ years of experience in mission design, flight dynamics.
• Demonstrated knowledge of orbital mechanics, including spaceflight dynamics, maneuver design, orbit determination, and Kalman filtering.
• Mission analysis with STK, Astrogator, GMAT, Monte, Copernicus, or equivalent.
• Git version control, or an equivalent version control system.
• Jira software project management or equivalent.
• U.S. citizenship is required, due to program requirements.

Responsibilities

• Develop and analyze launch vehicle and spacecraft trajectories, including ascent, orbit insertion, and orbital maneuvers.
• Perform orbital propagation, rendezvous planning, and station-keeping analysis for spacecraft operations.
• Support mission design including launch window analysis, delta-V budgets, and contingency planning.
• Interface with flight software and GNC teams to validate and optimize guidance profiles.
• Generate and deliver trajectory data products and flight dynamics support for mission readiness reviews.
• Contribute to development of in-house simulation tools and flight dynamics infrastructure.
• Support real-time mission operations including anomaly response and post-launch data analysis.

Skills

Mission design

Flight dynamics

Orbital mechanics

Kalman filtering

GNC interfaces

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace/Space Systems

Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering (nice to have)

Tools

STK

Astrogator

GMAT

Monte

Copernicus

Job description

Rocket Lab in Littleton, CO is seeking a Senior Flight Dynamics Engineer II to lead trajectory design for Earth orbiting, lunar, and interplanetary missions. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams to validate guidance profiles and support real-time operations, delivering data products for readiness reviews.

The role requires 8+ years in mission design and a strong background in orbital mechanics, Kalman filtering, and flight dynamics. U.S.