Staff Mission Design Engineer

<div class="content-intro"><p><strong>Turning Space into a Transportation Layer for Earth</strong></p></div><h3>Who We Are:</h3> <p><span data-contrast="none"><span data-ccp-parastyle="Normal (Web)"><span class="ui-provider a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z ab ac ae af ag ah ai aj ak">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. </span></span></span></p> <p><strong>What you'll do:</strong></p> <p>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.</p> <p><strong>Required Qualifications:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Bachelor's degree in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering or equivalent experience</li> <li>Typically 12+ years of aerospace system performance analysis</li> <li>Strong knowledge of 3-DOF and 6-DOF flight simulation</li> <li>Experience using flight simulation environments to determine impact dispersions and estimated casualty values in support of flight safety analysis.</li> <li>Familiarity with debris catalog generation</li> <li>Familiarity with trajectory design for space launch, reentry, or hypersonic systems</li> <li>Familiarity with handbook and medium fidelity aerodynamic prediction tools (e.g,. DATCOM, CBAERO, Cart3D, etc.)</li> <li>Familiarity with trajectory optimization tools (POST, OTIS, QuickShot, etc.)</li> <li>Experience using programming languages like Python, MATLAB, etc. to automate workflows and accelerate data analysis.</li> <li>Proven ability to work in a fast-paced environment, including prototyping and rapid iteration of new products.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Desired Qualifications:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Master's degree in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering, or equivalent experience</li> <li>End-to-end space mission analysis includes launch, orbital operation, and reentry</li> <li>Strong knowledge of low / mid / high fidelity estimation of aerodynamics of hypersonic vehicles.</li> <li>Significant experience with trajectory optimization tools, including their modification and the creation of custom toolchains around them to accelerate workflows.</li> <li>Experience driving space system architectures using trajectory optimization software tools</li> <li>Space constellation design experience, including familiarity with STK (Systems Tool Kit) for space mission design and ground coverage assessments</li> </ul> <p><strong>Our office headquarters is located in Playa Vista, CA. This position requires in-office presence.</strong></p> <p>_{<em>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. </em>}</p><div clas ... (truncated, view full listing at source)