Senior Navigation Engineer

Responsibilities

• Lead spacecraft navigation for all mission phases, including formulation, tracking architecture development, estimation approach, and operations.
• Develop and validate advanced Kalman filter configurations for complex regimes (multi-body, low-thrust, weak observability).
• Serve as primary navigation lead for flight operations operations prep, including console support, real-time OD, and anomaly response.
• Architect navigation solutions that account for mission design, GNC, communications, and ground system constraints.
• Own navigation products for major reviews, clearly communicating performance, trades, and risks.
• Mentor junior navigation engineers in OD, filter design, measurement modeling, and operations best practices.
• Drive improvements to navigation procedures, tool setups, and standard operating practices.
• Support BD and IRAD by shaping navigation concepts, contributing to proposals, and defining new mission and capability concepts.

Requirements

• 8–12 years of professional experience in spacecraft navigation, orbit determination, or closely related flight dynamics roles.
• Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related field.
• Demonstrated leadership of OD campaigns or major navigation tasks, including filter setup, force models, and tracking strategies.
• Proven ability to design and adapt Kalman filters for new dynamical and tracking regimes, including dynamic, bias, stochastic, and consider parameters.
• Significant experience with navigation/astrodynamics tools (e.g., MONTE, FreeFlyer, ODTK, GMAT, STK) in flight or flight-like applications.
• Strong navigation operations experience, including nav operator training/certification or equivalent console and contingency support.
• Ability to act as primary navigation point of contact, interacting with vendors and partners, driving requirements, owning verification/validation, and conducting system-level trades.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, with a record of leading technical presentations and navigation analysis reports.
• US. Person (U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident), able to work on-site in Westminster, CO.

Desired

• Master’s or PhD with emphasis on Kalman filters, state estimation, or astrodynamics
• Experience leading navigation support for maneuver planning and execution, including tracking schedule design and mission design trades.
• Expertise across multiple measurement types (radiometric, GPS, optical, angles-only) and in designing measurement configurations.
• Experience integrating navigation into system requirements, CONOPS, and ICDs, and leading navigation verification and reporting.
• Demonstrated use of the MONTE astrodynamics toolkit
• Leadership of navigation-related IRAD or proposal sections, shaping IRAD concepts and navigation win themes.
• Familiarity with cislunar and deep-space navigation challenges, including three-body regimes, timing/clock issues, and tracking network limitations.
• Familiarity with multi-spacecraft mission concepts
• Active TS/SCI or prior clearance preferred.