Human Exploration Surface Systems Navigation Project Engineer

Building on The Aerospace Corporation's reputation as a trusted, impartial advisor with integrity and dedication to mission success, the Civil Systems Group (CSG) combines deep technical expertise with market-leading innovation to help our customers solve complex systems engineering and integration challenges. CSG is organized by core customer-facing lines of business to manage and grow programs within NASA, NOAA, and the NNSA, while extending our capabilities to other civilian federal government agencies fully integrated within Aerospace rules, regulations, processes, values, and behaviors. 

Within the CSG, the Human Exploration and Space Flight (HESF) Division supports our NASA customer in all aspects of human space flight. We are looking for a Surface System Navigation Project Engineer (Project Engineer/Sr. Project Engineer – Technical Project Management). In this role you will support the NASA Johnson Space Center Engineering Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division (AFMD) as a Surface System Navigation expert supporting human exploration programs. The AFMD provides technical leadership in the engineering disciplines of aerodynamics and aerothermodynamics; guidance, navigation, and control flight performance; mission design; and autonomous systems. The division provides engineering design, development, testing, and evaluation for all phases of space flight (ascent, entry, orbit, and interplanetary) and for all types of human spacecraft.  

Work Model 

This is a full-time position based at NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, TX., offering a hybrid work model that combines 3-4 regular onsite workdays and remote flexibility as the business and customer needs allow.   

What You’ll Be Doing  

• Serve as a surface system expert across various capabilities supporting NASA Artemis mission objectives  

• Perform detailed system level analysis and formulate recommendations to senior-level program management on surface system navigation matters throughout all surface related mission phases 

• Support Artemis lifecycle review analysis activities, ensuring surface related GNC needs are verified and met  

• Perform evaluation of operational needs and verification of system ability to meet mission objectives 

• Support surface system navigation content across industry, and international partner provided systems 

• Conduct performance assessments on delivered GN&C data from NASA Program providers  

• Serve as a highly proactive technical specialist, working closely across various engineering disciplines  

• Coordinate and evaluate technical objectives, requirements, interfaces, standards, issues and provide feedback on trajectory analyses and related products 

• Certify GN&C system requirements compliance through review of analysis and test reports, including assessment of navigation sensor performance, trajectory dispersions, and other GN&C parameters  

• Certify fault tolerance safety requirements compliance through review of GN&C-related hazard reports and associated verification evidence, including communicating uncovered issues to a Safety Review Panel 

• Provide engineering inputs to operational products, such as flight rules and demonstration plans 

• Identify and recommend solutions to GN&C/Rendezvous and Proximity Operations performance related issues  

What You Need to be Successful  

Minimum Requirements for the Project Engineer- Technical Project Management: 

• Bachelor’s degree or advanced degree from an accredited program in a technical discipline  

• At least 6 years’ experience working in engineering disciplines, including experience in a systems engineering and/or program management environment across large government programs  

• Excellent teaming and leadership skills with an ability to working across diverse teams and multi-task across various issues/disciplines simultaneously  

• Exceptional interpersonal, presentation, and communications skills, including development of and briefing of decision packages and complex information in a succinct and polished manner   

• Understanding of specific NASA Human Spaceflight topics  

• Versed in architecting engineering solutions   

• Ability to work within a diverse team environment and many engineering disciplines, where the team is distributed across multiple NASA and Aerospace Corporation organizations, projects, and programs  

• Proven expertise in managing multiple concurrent tasks and provide direction on competing priorities  

• Willing to travel occasionally to work location/domestically/internationally approx. 4-6 times a year  

In addition to the above, the minimum requirements for the Senior Project Engineer-Technical Project Management include: 

• At least 10+ years’ experience with NASA or on NASA commercial systems  

• Expertise in building on NASA Human Spaceflight topics as they relate to planetary exploration 

• Highly skilled at architecting and implementing solutions working across various integrated systems 

How You Can Stand Out  

It would be impressive if you have one or more of these: 

• Advanced degree from an accredited program in a technical discipline  

• Independent and self-motivated; proactive ability to learn on surface system topics  

• Extensive Lunar and Mars expertise, or surface related engineering understanding 

• Superior analytical, problem solving, and decision-making skills