Trajectory Design Engineer II — Pioneering Space Missions

Rocket Lab Corporation; Littleton (CO); Hybrid; USD 100,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

401(k)

Paid vacation

Parental leave

Job summary

Rocket Lab in Littleton, CO seeks a Flight Dynamics Engineer II to perform tracking, navigation, maneuver planning, and collision avoidance for Earth-orbiting, lunar, and interplanetary missions within a cross-disciplinary team.

You will develop trajectories, support mission design, and coordinate with flight software and GNC teams to deliver data products for mission readiness reviews. A BS in Aerospace/Space Systems and 2+ years of experience are required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace, Space Systems, or an equivalent Engineering or Applied Physics degree.
• 2+ years of experience in mission design, flight dynamics.
• Knowledge of orbital mechanics, including spaceflight dynamics, maneuver design, orbit determination, and Kalman filtering.
• Mission analysis with STK, Astrogator, GMAT, Monte Carlo, 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

Trajectory design

Orbital mechanics

Mission analysis tools

Git

Jira

US citizenship

Education

Bachelor's degree in Aerospace/Space Systems or related field

Tools

STK

GMAT

Astrogator

Monte Carlo

Copernicus

Job description

Rocket Lab in Littleton, CO seeks a Flight Dynamics Engineer II to perform tracking, navigation, maneuver planning, and collision avoidance for Earth-orbiting, lunar, and interplanetary missions within a cross-disciplinary team.

You will develop trajectories, support mission design, and coordinate with flight software and GNC teams to deliver data products for mission readiness reviews. A BS in Aerospace/Space Systems and 2+ years of experience are required.