Orbit Determination Engineer

Senior Flight Dynamics / Orbit Determination Engineer

Los Angeles, California | Full-Time | Onsite

We’re partnering with an innovative aerospace company that’s developing advanced spacecraft technologies for next-generation space missions. As the team continues to grow, they’re looking for a Flight Dynamics Engineer to help solve challenging problems in astrodynamics, spacecraft navigation, and mission analysis.

If you enjoy turning complex orbital mechanics into practical engineering solutions and want to work on technically demanding space programmes, we’d love to hear from you.

The Opportunity

You’ll play a key role in developing flight dynamics capabilities that support spacecraft throughout the mission lifecycle. Working alongside software, systems and mission engineers, you’ll design algorithms, build simulation tools and improve the accuracy of spacecraft navigation and trajectory analysis.

This role is highly analytical and suited to engineers who enjoy solving complex mathematical and estimation problems.

You’ll likely have experience with

• Flight dynamics, astrodynamics or spacecraft navigation
• Orbital mechanics and numerical orbit propagation
• State estimation and covariance analysis
• Estimation techniques such as EKF, UKF or batch least squares
• Mission analysis and trajectory design
• Developing engineering software in Python, C++ or MATLAB
• Flight dynamics tools such as STK, GMAT, Orekit or FreeFlyer

What you’ll be doing

• Developing flight dynamics and navigation algorithms for spacecraft applications.
• Performing trajectory analysis and mission design studies.
• Creating simulation and analysis tools to support spacecraft performance and operational planning.
• Improving navigation accuracy through advanced estimation techniques.
• Working closely with multidisciplinary engineering teams to develop robust flight dynamics solutions.
• Supporting testing, validation and continuous improvement of flight dynamics software.

We’re looking for someone with

• A degree in Aerospace Engineering, Physics, Mathematics or a related technical discipline.
• 4+ years of professional experience in Flight Dynamics, Mission Analysis, Astrodynamics or Spacecraft Navigation.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Experience working within the space industry on satellite or spacecraft programmes.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to collaborate within a fast-paced engineering environment.

Bonus experience

Experience with any of the following would be beneficial:

• Orbit Determination or Precise Orbit Determination (POD)
• Guidance, Navigation & Control (GNC)
• Space Domain Awareness (SDA)
• LEO, GEO or deep-space missions
• High-fidelity simulation or modelling environments

If you’re excited by complex spacecraft dynamics and want to contribute to cutting-edge space technology, we’d love to hear from you.

Apply today! – angela.olmo@newspacetechnical.com