Staff Mission Design Engineer

Eras of humanity can often be defined by a dominant transportation mode - horse-drawn chariots, ocean-going boats, or aircraft. These were spurred by a small group of people rigorously focused on building technology to achieve faster access to more of the world.  We seek to usher in a new era of humanity defined by universal access to the whole globe, free of borders and the presence of a routine way from space to Earth. To do this, we are building highly maneuverable re-entry vehicles that can loiter in orbit before precision landing back on Earth. 

What you'll do:

Inversion’s lifting-body reentry platform will create a highly maneuverable, highly accurate, and low-cost vehicle that will be industry-first. The Staff Mission Design Engineer will be responsible for developing a workflow to support the flight simulation data products required for flight safety analysis.  This role will also aid in designing and executing system-level performance trade studies to drive key architecture decisions for current and conceptual reentry vehicles.  You will own customer-facing performance predictions and safety analysis and be a key contributor to Inversion's advanced development efforts.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering or equivalent experience
• Typically 12+ years of aerospace system performance analysis
• Strong knowledge of 3-DOF and 6-DOF flight simulation
• Experience using flight simulation environments to determine impact dispersions and estimated casualty values in support of flight safety analysis.
• Familiarity with debris catalog generation
• Familiarity with trajectory design for space launch, reentry, or hypersonic systems
• Familiarity with handbook and medium fidelity aerodynamic prediction tools (e.g,. DATCOM, CBAERO, Cart3D, etc.)
• Familiarity with trajectory optimization tools (POST, OTIS, QuickShot, etc.)
• Experience using programming languages like Python, MATLAB, etc. to automate workflows and accelerate data analysis.
• Proven ability to work in a fast-paced environment, including prototyping and rapid iteration of new products.

Desired Qualifications:

• Master's degree in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering, or equivalent experience
• End-to-end space mission analysis includes launch, orbital operation, and reentry
• Strong knowledge of low / mid / high fidelity estimation of aerodynamics of hypersonic vehicles.
• Significant experience with trajectory optimization tools, including their modification and the creation of custom toolchains around them to accelerate workflows.
• Experience driving space system architectures using trajectory optimization software tools
• Space constellation design experience, including familiarity with STK (Systems Tool Kit) for space mission design and ground coverage assessments

Our office headquarters is located in Playa Vista, CA. This position requires in-office presence.

The California annual base salary for this role is currently $169,000-$199,000.  Pay Grades are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data.  Individual pay will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: interviews and an assessment of several factors that are unique to each candidate, job-related skills, relevant education and experience, certifications, abilities of the candidate and internal equity.