Senior Mission Design Engineer

About Varda Low Earth orbit is open for business. Varda is accelerating the development of commercial space infrastructure, from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable and economical reentry capsules.  Varda’s W-Series vehicles are built, designed, and operated by Varda in-house, including the pharmaceutical processing payloads, the capsules, the C-PICA heat shields, and the satellite buses. From life-saving pharmaceuticals to more powerful fiber optics, there is a world of products used on Earth today that can only be manufactured in space. Varda is accelerating innovation in the orbital economy by creating both the products and infrastructure needed so space can directly benefit life on Earth. Our mission is to expand the economic bounds of humankind.   Our team is uniquely suited to accomplishing this goal, with leadership and staff comprised of veterans from SpaceX, Blue Origin, major pharmaceutical companies and Silicon Valley. Varda was founded in January 2021 by Will Bruey and Delian Asparouhov with significant backing from world class investors including Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, Caffeinated Capital, General Catalyst, and Also Capital.   Varda is headquartered in El Segundo, California, where we have offices and a production facility where our vehicles, equipment, and materials are built, integrated, and tested. Varda also has offices in Washington, DC and Huntsville, AL.  Join Varda, and work to create a bustling in-space ecosystem. About this Role We are seeking a highly talented, self-motivated Senior Mission Design Engineer (you may also know this as trajectory design, flight dynamics, or astrodynamics) to join our rapidly growing startup. As part of our larger Autonomous Systems team, you will have the technical leadership opportunity to create, design and implement full-cycle mission planning and orbital mechanics profiles for future reentry vehicles, unlocking the future of space factories with rapid flight and entry for next generation products.   You will work closely with a top-notch multidisciplinary vehicle engineering team to architect the mission plan and trajectory of the world’s first commercial reentry vehicle, enabling the ability to precision land and return manufactured products to earth. You’ll own and develop modeling and simulation infrastructure and tooling to help ensure trajectory design and reentry profile are accurate, reliable, and safe. You will own the full cycle of mission planning and orbital dynamics development, from requirements definition and design to mission planning and on-orbit and reentry operations. We are looking for engineers who enjoy solving complex and open-ended problems, can work effectively in a fast-paced environment and share our passion in creating in-space industry.   Responsibilities Perform trajectory design, optimization, and dispersion analysis for the reentry of a next generation space vehicle Design spacecraft trajectories and produce orbital analyses for commercial reentry vehicles Optimize trajectories based on fuel, time, and/or performance characteristics Work closely with propulsion, software and flight operations teams to ensure vehicle and mission objectives are accomplished in the vehicle design Design and implementation of autonomous satellite navigational solutions, collision avoidance, orbital rendezvous, and atmospheric re-entry algorithms Running Monte Carlo analysis to characterize performance of new features Lead the development of new vehicle capabilities Develop and maintain ground-based mission operations tooling in support of automated and scalable on-orbit operations  Support in-orbit operations as trajectory specialist, including coordination with other spacecraft operators and 3rd party entities Required Skills Teamwork skills are necessary to solve problems in a collaborative environment Ability to scope projects including requirements capture and initial design trades given open-ended problems Develop 6 degree of freedom vehicle simulation using C++ and Python  Perform trajectory design, optimization, and dispersion analysis for the reentry of a space capsule Mission specific analysis for customer launch and in support of business development Basic Qualifications B.S. degree in aerospace, mechanical, electrical engineering, physics, or related field 5+ proven years of experience, or PhD with 3+ years of relevant experience Demonstrated knowledge in designing, modeling, testing, and flying orbital trajectories or aerospace guidance, navigation, and control systems Highly adept software and model development skills, particularly in C++/Python/Matlab Understanding of orbital mechanics, modeling and simulation, and software development Experience anchoring/fitting first principles models to test data or high-fidelity external simulations  Proven system engineering and configuration management skills  Excellent written and verbal communication skills Preferred Skills and Experience Understanding of multi-body dynamics, flexible body dynamics, gas dynamics, fluids, and thermodynamics Experience developing and verifying physical models for the purpose of control design, component sizing, and system performance evaluation Experience supporting flight test or flying spacecraft Ability to continuously manage risk and provide solutions with lean software development techniques Experience with project management for cradle-to-grave projects Prior work in a technical leadership role for a launch vehicle or satellite development effort Prior work in a startup or agile development environment Capability to solve complex problems autonomy as an individual or as a member of an integrated team Passion for advancing the commercial space industry Pay Range Salary range: $170,000 - $200,000/per year This role is on-site in El Segundo, CA Leveling and base salary is determined by job-related sk