MK2 Crew Lander GN&C Flight Software Engineer - Sr

Applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the requisition closes.

About the role

This role is part of the Lunar Permanence business unit, which develops Blue Origin’s Blue Moon landers and related products. We are building sustainable infrastructure for transport of crew and cargo from Earth to the lunar surface. As part of the Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GN&C) team, you will develop, integrate, test, and mature navigation, guidance, and control flight software. You will work at the intersection of GN&C algorithms, flight software, avionics hardware, camera and sensor systems, and mission operations to enable robust, safe, and certifiable lunar landing capabilities. The focus is on software infrastructure and flight implementation for vision-based navigation (VBN), computer vision, sensor processing, state estimation, guidance, and flight controls. You will help establish reliable, scalable software patterns for deploying advanced GN&C capabilities from laboratory prototypes through integrated vehicle testing and flight readiness.

This position is ideal for a senior software engineer who enjoys solving difficult software problems, improving engineering practices, and mentoring engineers in modern safety-critical software development. The role is expected to independently drive software architecture and implementation decisions, identify and retire integration risks early, influence engineering standards, and deliver high-quality software and test evidence in support of vehicle milestones. While not a people-management role, you will mentor teammates, lead technical discussions, and improve the software capabilities of the GN&C organization.

Responsibilities

• Partner with GN&C algorithm developers to transition algorithms from prototype environments into performant, testable, and flight-appropriate software implementations.
• Design, implement, integrate, and maintain GN&C flight software for the MK2 Crew Lander, with emphasis on navigation and computer vision capabilities, including image pre-processing, plugin or modular algorithm architectures, camera interfaces, telemetry, command interfaces, and integration with core flight software.
• Work closely with avionics, embedded software, payload, and flight hardware teams to define camera, sensor, driver, API, communications, timing, synchronization, and data handling.
• Develop hardware-in-the-loop, software-in-the-loop, and laboratory test capabilities that support repeatable validation of GN&C and VBN performance across representative sensors, compute hardware, and mission scenarios.
• Establish robust flight software engineering practices, including automated builds, static analysis, unit and integration testing, code coverage, regression testing, fuzz testing, continuous integration pipelines, configuration control, and acceptance-test planning.
• Contribute to the maturation of software toward safety-critical and human-spaceflight standards, including requirements traceability, verification planning, fault handling, deterministic behavior, and clear interface definitions.
• Mentor and technically guide less experienced engineers in software design, debugging, code review, testing strategy, and disciplined development practices.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, aerospace engineering, electrical engineering, or a related technical field.
• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, including substantial experience with embedded, real-time, robotics, aerospace, autonomous-system, or other high-reliability software.
• Experience developing production-quality software in C/C++ and Rust; ability to work effectively in mixed-language software environments.
• Experience integrating software with physical hardware, sensors, embedded compute systems, drivers, and communications interfaces.
• Demonstrated experience designing software architectures, APIs, modular interfaces, and testable systems for complex technical products.
• Strong understanding of software verification practices, including unit testing, integration testing, automated build and test pipelines, code review, debugging, and root-cause analysis.
• Ability to work effectively across algorithm, hardware, systems engineering, test, and software groups.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to communicate technical decisions, risks, and tradeoffs to diverse engineering stakeholders.
• Ability to earn trust through hands-on technical contribution, constructive mentorship, and disciplined engineering execution.
• Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

Qualifications

• Experience with GN&C, navigation, state estimation, sensor fusion, visual odometry, computer vision, terrain relative navigation, robotics, or autonomous vehicles.
• Experience deploying computer vision or machine perception capabilities on embedded or flight-like computing hardware.
• Experience with cFS/cFE, flight software frameworks, real-time operating systems, or spacecraft avionics software.
• Experience developing camera drivers, image acquisition pipelines, camera calibration workflows, or time-synchronized multi-sensor systems.
• Familiarity with spacecraft flight software lifecycle practices, including requirements-based verification, qualification testing, safety-critical development, and mission assurance expectations.
• Experience with hardware-in-the-loop testing, simulation, test automation, or lab infrastructure development.
• Demonstrated use of C++ and Rust in embedded, systems, aerospace, or high-reliability applications.
• Familiarity with software security and robustness practices such as fuzz testing, memory-safety analysis, static analysis, dependency management, and secure build pipelines.
• Experience with lunar, planetary, spacecraft, or human-spaceflight programs.
• Experience serving as a senior technical mentor, technical lead, or engineering coach while remaining primarily hands-on.

Pay

• Colorado applicants: $181,626.00 – $254,275.35
• Washington applicants: $197,529.00 – $276,539.55
• Other site ranges may differ.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance
• Paid parental leave
• Short and long-term disability
• 401(k) with company match up to 5%
• Education Support Program
• Stock options for all regular employees (working at least 20 hours/week)
• Paid Time Off: up to four (4) weeks per year based on weekly scheduled hours, and up to 14 company-paid holidays
• Depending on role type and job level, employees may be eligible for additional benefits and bonuses based on the company's intent to reward individual contributions and enable them to share in the company's results (bonus amounts and eligibility are not guaranteed and subject to change)