Senior Space Vehicle Autonomy Architect

Blue Origin; Reston (VA); On-site; USD 214,000 - 299,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance provided

Travel 25% of the time

Job summary

Blue Origin in Reston, VA seeks a Chief Engineer, Space Vehicle Autonomy to drive architecture for onboard autonomous decision-making and space domain awareness. You will bridge traditional autonomy with AI/ML, interfacing with GN&C and systems engineering to optimize design and verification for autonomous spacecraft capable of operating in contested space environments.

The role requires leading-edge technical leadership for national security satellite platforms, with relocation support and

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science degree in an engineering-related field.
• 20+ years of advanced spacecraft design, development, or analysis experience.
• Demonstrated experience as a technical authority or chief engineer on complex spacecraft or autonomy programs.
• Deep understanding of traditional autonomy mechanisms (state machines, FDIR, rule-based logic) and AI/ML/CNN-based approaches to autonomy.
• Experience adjudicating complex technical trade-offs and leading Engineering/Failure Review Boards.
• Experience with national security space customer needs and translating mission constraints into engineering requirements.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the technical authority for space vehicle autonomy, setting architecture and strategy for onboard autonomous decision-making across fault management, navigation, and mission execution.
• Define and evolve the autonomy architecture spanning traditional and AI/ML perception and decision-making methods.
• Provide expert direction on Observe-Orient-Decide-Act loop implementation for Rendezvous and Proximity Operations mission profiles.
• Integrate Space Domain Awareness principles into onboard autonomy to detect, track, and respond to objects in the orbital environment.
• Lead strategy for perception stacks including sensor fusion, relative navigation, object tracking, and pose estimation for autonomous maneuvering and SDA missions.
• Oversee MLOps pipelines, including data curation, model validation, and lifecycle management for flight-qualified ML/AI models.
• Define and own the verification strategy for autonomy and SDA across SIL/HIL campaigns.

Skills

Technical authority

Autonomy architecture

AI/ML

GN&C coordination

Systems engineering

Education

Bachelor of Science in Engineering

TS security clearance preferred

Tools

MLOps pipelines

RPO experience

Job description

Blue Origin in Reston, VA seeks a Chief Engineer, Space Vehicle Autonomy to drive architecture for onboard autonomous decision-making and space domain awareness. You will bridge traditional autonomy with AI/ML, interfacing with GN&C and systems engineering to optimize design and verification for autonomous spacecraft capable of operating in contested space environments.

The role requires leading-edge technical leadership for national security satellite platforms, with relocation support and