Senior Spaceflight Trajectory Engineer

Rocket Lab Corp.; Long Beach, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 132,000 - 198,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock purchase program

Medical plans

Dental and vision coverage

Paid vacation and sick time

401(k) with company match

EV charging

Job summary

Rocket Lab Space Systems in Long Beach, CA seeks a Senior Flight Dynamics Engineer I to design and analyze trajectories for Earth orbiting, lunar, and interplanetary missions. You will partner with cross‑functional teams to validate guidance profiles and support mission readiness reviews.

The role requires 5+ years in flight dynamics, an active Secret clearance, and US citizenship. Base pay in CA ranges with stock-based compensation as part of total rewards.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, Space Systems, or Software Engineering, or an equivalent Engineering or Applied Physics degree.
• 5+ years of experience in mission design, flight dynamics.
• Understanding of orbital mechanics.
• Experience with STK, Astrogator, GMAT, Monte, Copernicus, or equivalent.
• Git version control.
• Jira software project management or equivalent.
• Active Secret clearance, with ability to obtain TS/SCI.
• U.S. citizenship is required.

Responsibilities

• Develop and analyze launch vehicle and spacecraft trajectories.
• Perform orbital propagation, rendezvous planning, and station-keeping analysis.
• 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

Flight dynamics

Orbital mechanics

Mission design

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace/Mechanical/Space Systems/Software Engineering or Applied Physics

Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering or related field

Tools

STK

Astrogator

GMAT

Monte

Copernicus

Git

Jira

Job description

Rocket Lab Space Systems in Long Beach, CA seeks a Senior Flight Dynamics Engineer I to design and analyze trajectories for Earth orbiting, lunar, and interplanetary missions. You will partner with cross‑functional teams to validate guidance profiles and support mission readiness reviews.

The role requires 5+ years in flight dynamics, an active Secret clearance, and US citizenship. Base pay in CA ranges with stock-based compensation as part of total rewards.