Moonshot Aerospace is seeking a Staff Navigation Engineer to lead spacecraft navigation system design and analysis. Initial assignments will support navigation system development for lunar lander, cislunar orbital transfer vehicle (OTV), and related spacecraft programs for commercial and government customers, including the Human Landing System (HLS) and Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS).
This is a navigation-focused position requiring deep experience in Kalman filter design, spacecraft state estimation, and navigation sensor integration for cislunar and planetary environments. The engineer will serve as a technical authority on navigation architecture and will be expected to independently drive navigation system development from requirements through flight operations support. Multiple experience levels are available, and responsibilities will scale with demonstrated capability.
Responsibilities
Design, develop, and tune navigation filters (EKF) for lunar lander, OTV, and related spacecraft applications
Define navigation system architecture for cislunar and planetary mission phases including sensor selection, measurement models, and filter configuration
Develop navigation error budgets and perform covariance analysis for orbit determination and powered descent
Implement navigation algorithms in flight software and support SWIL/HWIL integration and test
Perform Monte Carlo analysis to verify navigation performance under dispersed conditions across cislunar and descent phases
Develop and validate sensor models (IMU, star tracker, GPS/GNSS, LiDAR, optical navigation camera) for lunar and cislunar environments
Support navigation sensor testing, calibration, and characterization
Contribute to technical documentation, peer reviews, and customer presentations
Collaborate across GN&C, flight software, and systems engineering teams
Required Qualifications
U.S. Citizenship and ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance
B.S. in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, or related field
5+ years of professional experience in spacecraft navigation system design and analysis
Demonstrated experience designing and implementing Kalman filters for spacecraft applications
Experience with navigation sensor integration and testing (IMU, star tracker, GPS, LiDAR)
Strong programming skills in C/C++, Python, and MATLAB
Experience with spacecraft dynamics and orbital mechanics
Familiarity with real-time software systems and flight software integration
Effective written and verbal communication skills
Preferred Qualifications
M.S. or Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, or related field
8+ years of navigation engineering experience on spacecraft programs
Lunar or cislunar navigation experience, including orbit determination and powered descent navigation
Terrain Relative Navigation (TRN), optical navigation, or image-based navigation for lunar surface operations
Experience with navigation analysis tools (MONTE, GEONS, ODTK, or equivalent)
Multi-sensor fusion and relative navigation for rendezvous and proximity operations
Hardware-in-the-loop (HWIL) navigation sensor integration and test
Experience with NASA Trick simulation framework or equivalent
Conference publications or technical papers in spacecraft navigation
Launch vehicle or satellite navigation experience