Senior Flight Dynamics Engineer

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

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, Space Systems, or Software Engineering
• 5+ years of experience (Level I) or 8+ years of experience (Level II) in mission design and flight dynamics
• Understanding of orbital mechanics and orbit determination theory
• Proficiency with mission analysis tools such as STK, Astrogator, GMAT, Monte, or Copernicus
• Python software development skills
• Experience with Git version control and Jira
• Active Secret clearance and U.S. citizenship

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering or related field
• Active TS/SCI clearance
• Experience with Monte Carlo numerical simulation
• Orbit determination analysis with ODTK, Orekit, or equivalent
• Team or software project management experience

About the Company

Rocket Lab is an end-to-end space company delivering responsive launch services, complete spacecraft design and manufacturing, payloads, satellite components, and more – all with the goal of opening access to space.