Principal Space Vehicle Autonomy Architect

• Provide leadership across organizations, working end-to-end across vehicle, sensor/payload, and ground elements to create autonomous space systems solutions
• Formulate on-orbit autonomy strategies for Blue National Security, including Blue Ring and constellation product lines
• Participate in trade studies and proposal development for national security customers, civil government agencies, and commercial entities
• Interface with defense and civil-space stakeholders on autonomy topics, capability roadmaps, mission-level requirements, and implementation and test oversight
• Provide subject matter expertise in fleet-level autonomous operations, rendezvous and proximity operations, and other critical autonomy needs during algorithm development and flight operations
• Collaborate with customers, stakeholders, systems engineering, architecture, hardware, and software teams to identify and track cross-functional autonomy deliverables
• Author proposal documents targeting national security, civil government, and commercial customers
• Coordinate with GNC, ATX, Flight Software, Telecommunications, and Sensor/Payload teams on trade studies for autonomous maneuver planning, RPO sequencing, and fleet-level coordination
• Establish goals and metrics for delivering autonomous system solutions to cost, performance, and schedule requirements
• Assess fleet-level autonomy and RPO performance against mission scenarios, including coordinated observation, spectrum/beam management, network/mesh routing, and graceful degradation
• Inform autonomy performance, risk, and operations for scheduled missions, including ConOps, ground systems feasibility, and human-machine teaming frameworks
• Lead on-orbit autonomy architecture development, including autonomous rendezvous, proximity operations, and multi-spacecraft coordination
• Lead full lifecycle autonomy definition and development, including initialization, service orbit attainment, predictive health and degradation monitoring, over-the-air software updates, and end-of-life/deorbit
• Create high-level verification and testing processes and procedures
• Mentor and train program personnel on autonomy approach, philosophy, and technology
• Support autonomous operations during live missions through real-time monitoring, anomaly response, and fleet state management

Requirements

• B.S. in Aerospace, Software, Electrical, Mechanical, Physics, Systems Engineering, or related technical subject area
• 10+ years of technical experience developing space mission design and autonomous systems
• 10+ years of technical experience in the space autonomy domain, including on-orbit autonomous operations, relative navigation, orbital mechanics, and multi-spacecraft coordination
• Strong background developing space autonomy CONOPs, requirements, and interface description documents to flow to element-level teams
• Demonstrated experience with fleet-level autonomy and/or rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) throughout the mission design lifecycle, from conceptualization through operational flight
• Applied experience in autonomy and mission design tools such as MATLAB/Simulink, STK, FreeFlyer, GMAT, or equivalent
• Experience developing high-level plans for end-to-end integrated system tests throughout a program's lifecycle
• Outstanding customer relationship skills, including discovering requirements underlying feature requests, recommending technical and business approaches, and leading engineering efforts
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident/current Green Card holder, or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum
• Ph.D. in a related technical subject area preferred
• 15+ years of proven experience focused on mission design and autonomous space systems preferred
• Experience with multiple spacecraft missions of operational autonomous flight support and/or leadership preferred
• Applied expertise in relative navigation algorithms, including sensor fusion, optical/LIDAR-based proximity sensing, and state estimation for RPO applications preferred
• Experience with autonomous mission planning and execution frameworks for multi-spacecraft or constellation operations preferred
• Familiarity with national security space mission requirements, including SDA, on-orbit servicing, and responsive space operations preferred
• Experience with AI/ML-based decision-making frameworks applied to on-orbit autonomy or fleet management preferred
• Experience designing, analyzing, or operating autonomous systems in cislunar, GEO, or other high-energy orbital environments preferred
• Active TS//SCI security clearance strongly preferred, though not required

Core Competencies

Demonstrates expertise in developing and implementing autonomous space systems solutions, with a strong focus on on-orbit autonomy, rendezvous and proximity operations, and multi-spacecraft coordination. Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams and manage complex mission design and execution processes.

Highest-signal resume keywords

• Autonomous Space Systems Development
• Fleet-Level Autonomy Expertise
• Rendezvous And Proximity Operations (RPO)
• MATLAB/Simulink Proficiency
• Active TS//SCI Security Clearance

ATS Optimization Keywords

Hard Skills

• Space Mission Design
• On-Orbit Autonomous Operations
• Relative Navigation
• Orbital Mechanics
• Multi-Spacecraft Coordination
• Autonomy CONOPs Development
• Requirements Documentation
• Autonomous Mission Planning
• Sensor Fusion
• AI/ML-Based Decision-Making Frameworks

Soft Skills

• Outstanding Customer Relationship Skills
• Excellent Verbal Communication
• Excellent Written Communication

Certifications & Qualifications

• Ph.D. in Related Technical Subject Area
• U.S. Citizenship or Permanent Residency

Industry Keywords

• National Security Space Mission Requirements
• On-Orbit Servicing
• Responsive Space Operations
• Cislunar Operations
• GEO Operations

Tools & Technologies

• MATLAB
• Simulink
• STK
• FreeFlyer
• GMAT

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