Senior Flight Dynamics Engineer , Space Sciences Laboratory

Overview

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Departmental Overview

The Space Sciences Laboratory (SSL) is an Organized Research Unit (ORU) of the Berkeley campus reporting to the Vice Chancellor for Research. SSL's primary goal is to foster research in space-related sciences and to provide education for the next generation of space scientists. Research at SSL, led by Berkeley faculty and SSL Senior Fellows, focuses on experiments and observations carried out in space as well as theoretical and basic research.

The Mission Operations Team at the Space Sciences Lab operates multiple NASA science spacecraft now, and is funded to operate additional ones through this decade, and beyond. We currently operate spacecraft in Low Earth orbit, Lunar Orbit, at Earth-Sun Lagrange distance, and Mars, all at the same time. We are looking for a new Senior Flight Dynamics Engineer to help us with the essential products we need to (among other things) ensure that our spacecraft get to where they need to and maneuver as appropriate to collect science data for our important missions.

The person we hire will provide spacecraft navigation and mission design for our existing and upcoming missions. You will work in a small and nimble team on multiple missions and proposals at once, and on a timescale where you will get to see your work's impact.

The First Review Date for this job is: 01/27/2026.

• Provides mission operations support for ongoing space missions.
• Generates and analyzes orbit and attitude determination solutions and mission planning products.
• Provides spacecraft maneuver planning, analysis, and calibration for missions with propulsive capabilities.
• Designs, develops, and evaluates complex flight dynamics and navigation systems used in the operations of national space science assets.
• Performs complex analysis on a variety of flight dynamic and orbital mechanics problems, including the definition of related mission requirements, for current and future space science missions.
• Collaborates with other aerospace engineering specialists, and outside collaborators, to develop and maintain the flight dynamics ground systems.
• Consults and collaborates with Principal Investigators (PIs) and other aerospace engineering specialists in the development of new mission concepts.
• Responds to spacecraft anomalies, from the perspective of the flight dynamics specialty, to assist in the investigation and recovery operations.
• Other duties as assigned.

• Thorough skills in the design, development, and navigation of spacecraft trajectories.
• Demonstrated proficiency ("specialist") in at least two of the following: spacecraft navigation, trajectory determination, or mission design.
• Experienced user of MONTE, GMAT, Copernicus, or other related mission design and trajectory analysis systems.
• Thorough knowledge of Python, MATLAB, Linux, VS Code and Git Lab.
• Past systems knowledge of other engineering specialties (e.g. Propulsion, Avionics, etc.) involved in the design and development of spacecraft.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate and present information to technical and nontechnical personnel at various levels in the organization.
• Must be able to travel up to 5% as needed for work events.
• Must be able to travel within the US to support in-person meetings and work on EAR programs.
• Advanced degree in related area and/or equivalent experience/training.

• Experience with NASA missions.
• Proficiency in Influx
  
  DB and MySQL for data management and Grafana for building monitoring dashboards.
• Post-graduate level course work in related area.

For information on the…