Principal Navigation Engineer

ABOUT FIREFLY AEROSPACE

Firefly Aerospace is a space and defense technology company that enables our world to launch, land, and operate in space – anywhere, anytime. As the partner of choice for critical space missions, Firefly is the only commercial company to launch a satellite to orbit with 24-hour notice and the only company to achieve a successful Moon landing. Our launch vehicles, lunar landers, and orbital vehicles provide government and commercial customers with full mission services from low Earth orbit to the Moon and beyond. Headquartered in north Austin, Texas, Firefly is looking for passionate, hardworking innovators to join our team and help fuel our successful trajectory into space.

SUMMARY

As a Principal Navigation Engineer at Firefly, you will serve as a technical authority on navigation of spacecraft orbiting and landing on the moon, inspecting and rendezvousing with other spacecraft, and more. This deeply technical role requires an authoritative knowledge base in vision-based navigation, robotics, perception, estimation, and multi-modal sensor fusion, with a proven track record of solving the most complex navigation challenges. In this role, you will drive technical strategies and capability development, provide authoritative technical review and guidance, and mentor engineers at all levels. This position offers the opportunity to influence system architectures from concept through operations, represent Firefly's technical excellence to customers and executive leadership, and solve unique problems that push the boundaries of spaceflight.

RESPONSIBILITIES

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Serve as a technical authority on the navigation of orbital spacecraft and landers, providing expertise across programs and domains

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Develop and validate novel navigation methodologies, tools, and best practices for complex or unprecedented mission requirements

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Lead resolution of the most challenging navigation problems across the organization

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Provide authoritative technical review and oversight of launch vehicle navigation designs, changes, and risks

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Establish technical standards for mission design, software development, testing, and requirement verification

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Drive navigation strategy and roadmap development, identifying capability gaps, investment priorities, and opportunities for adopting emerging technology

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Initiate and execute continuous improvement initiatives for navigation processes, tools, and operational efficiency

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Represent navigation expertise in executive-level technical reviews, mission milestone reviews, customer meetings, and proposal efforts

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Participate in critical technical work including algorithm development, test campaign execution, and mission operations support

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Mentor and develop engineers at all levels, cultivating the next generation of technical leaders

QUALIFICATIONS

Required

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PhD in aerospace engineering, computer science, robotics or a related field, or Master’s degree with substantial technical accomplishments demonstrating analytical rigor equivalent to doctoral research

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8+ years of experience in space-based robotic navigation with demonstrated expertise and technical leadership across multiple programs

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Demonstrated experience supporting flight missions

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Mastery of estimation, Kalman filtering, smoothing-based estimation, multi-modal fusion, and visual-inertial estimation with deep understanding of how to safely design and implement mission-critical systems

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Experience developing strategic vision, technical roadmaps, and capability development initiatives for robotics or navigation teams

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Proficiency in the development of flight software and physics simulations for spaceflight applications

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Software engineering expertise with proficiency in development practices including version control, code review, testing, documentation, and CI/CD

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Proficiency with Python, C++, Linux, and specialized tools and libraries relevant to domain

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Comprehensive knowledge of the unique challenges of space perception and how to build systems that degrade gracefully in the presence of faults

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Demonstrated ability to elevate the technical capabilities of engineers through mentorship, developing high performers who strengthen the organization around them

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Excellent communication and presentation skills, with an ability to convey complex technical concepts to executives, customers, and non-technical stakeholders

Desired

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PhD with research contributions advancing a specialization area relevant to space-based navigation

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Background as a technical leader on operational space robotic missions from development through successful flights

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Deep expertise in advanced techniques relevant to specialization

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Demonstrated proficiency across multiple navigation specialization areas

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Proven ability to influence technical direction and drive consensus across multidisciplinary organizations

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Skill in communicating with program management, customers, and executives in both technical and business forums

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Experience leading or supporting anomaly investigations and resolving flight-critical navigation issues

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History of applying technical expertise to achieve customer mission success and initiate new business opportunities

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Innovation through patents or technical contributions in specialization area

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Track record of thought leadership through publications, presentations, or contributions to industry state-of-the-art

Firefly offers outstanding benefits for our employees, including generous health, dental and vision plans with low plan deductibles, parental leave, educational reimbursement, short term disability, and flexible PTO options.

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Firefly Aerospace, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Firefly is governed based on merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.