Senior Mission Design Engineer at Varda

The role

This Senior Mission Design Engineer role involves leading the technical design and implementation of mission planning and orbital mechanics for future reentry vehicles. You will work within the Autonomous Systems team to architect trajectories that enable precision landing and return of space-manufactured products to Earth.

What you'll do

• Perform trajectory design and optimization for next generation space vehicle reentry
• Develop six degree of freedom vehicle simulations using C++ and Python
• Design autonomous satellite navigational solutions and atmospheric reentry algorithms
• Run Monte Carlo analyses to characterize performance of new features
• Collaborate with propulsion and software teams to meet mission objectives
• Support on-orbit operations as a trajectory specialist and coordinate with external entities

What you'll bring

• Bachelor degree in aerospace or mechanical engineering with five years of experience
• Proficiency in software and model development using C++, Python, or Matlab
• Demonstrated knowledge in orbital mechanics and aerospace guidance and navigation systems
• Experience anchoring first principles models to test data or high-fidelity simulations
• Must be a U.S. person as defined by ITAR regulations

Your impact

You will play a critical role in unlocking the future of space factories by ensuring the safe and accurate return of manufactured goods from orbit. Your work on trajectory modeling and simulation infrastructure will directly enable the world's first commercial reentry vehicle to achieve precision landings.