Section Manager: RPO Maneuver and Orbits Section  

The Enterprise Effects Division (EED) drives integration of Aerospace’s strategic capabilities across the national space enterprise. The division leverages a broad array of engineering disciplines against a diverse and dynamic portfolio of programs, customers, and national challenges. EED spans the capability lifecycle from concept and architecture design to performance assessment to application of space and space-enabled capabilities. 

As a core component of EED, the Earth Orbit Flight Dynamics Department provides flight mechanics expertise for launch and space vehicles. This includes expertise in orbital mechanics, astrodynamics, trajectory design and optimization, and atmospheric flight modeling and simulation. The department is a critical integration partner for a wide range of engineering disciplines to facilitate the company’s mission of providing multi-disciplinary insights. We are looking for a Section Manager to lead the Rendezvous and Proximity Operations (RPO) Maneuver and Orbits Section (RMOS) of the organization. As the lead of RMOS, the selected candidate will help formulate the delivery of critical RPO trajectory-centric and orbit-centric analyses, tools, and capabilities, providing stand-alone services and integrable modules for partners to leverage. This candidate will become a leading corporate voice in shaping Aerospace’s strategic vision for RPO services provided to a wide range of defense, intelligence, and civil and commercial customers.  

Work Model 

• This position will be a hybrid work model based in El Segundo, CA, Colorado Springs, CO, Chantilly, VA, or Albuquerque, NM, with the expectation that the selected candidate works at least 4 days per week onsite, as the business needs allow. 

What You’ll Be Doing  

• Leading teams (7-10 staff) performing RPO trajectory design and optimization, incorporating realistic constraints in the evaluation of mission objectives 

• Leading teams performing RPO orbit design, selection, and analysis to ensure proper creation and assessment of RPO mission sequences  

• Cultivating a landscape where state-of-the-art capabilities for optimization and orbits modeling are applied for RPO-specific applications, leveraging external tools (e.g. GPOPS-II, ASSET, OTIS, SNOPT, IPOPT, etc.) while also advancing a healthy internal tool base 

• Partnering with other corporate RPO entities to provide necessary RPO capabilities for integration into multi-disciplinary analysis workflows  

• Supporting cooperative and non-cooperative RPO analysis frameworks, exploring multi-objective, multi-turn scenarios, leveraging game-theory, pursuer-evasion techniques, and possibly AI/ML/DRL techniques 

• Partnering with other flight dynamics teams in the subdivision to provide bench depth and career growth opportunities 

• Developing relationships with customers to facilitate solutions for existing and emerging challenges 

• Providing strategic vision for the RMOS mission area and effectively communicating the vision 

• Managing department resources across multiple focus areas and geographic locations  

• Recruiting, hiring, mentoring, and developing exceptional talent for the section, department, and organization 

What You Need to be Successful – Section Manager: RPO Maneuver and Orbits Section - FLIGHT MECHANICS  

Minimum Requirements: 

• Masters degree in applicable STEM areas  

• Typically, 8 years of applicable professional or educational experience is desired 

• Experience with project leadership and demonstrated ability to initiate and lead team efforts 

• Excellent interpersonal skills and the proven ability to influence a technical organization 

• Proven ability to foster an environment where teammates collaborate and work across organizational lines for the strategic benefit of all parties, including internal and external equities  

• Experience in one or more of these programming languages and environments: C, C++, Fortran, Python, Linux, and/or Matlab 

• Willing to travel domestically approx. 10%  

• This position requires ability to obtain and maintain a TS/SCI security clearance, which is issued by the U.S. government. U.S. citizenship is required to obtain a security clearance. 

How You Can Stand Out  

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

• PhD degree in an applicable field 

• Experience working in a dynamic environment with development of new technology and research focus areas 

• Operational experience doing maneuver planning and optimization for real-world RPO missions  

• Experience with military exercises and wargaming events  

• Current TS/SCI or TS/SAP access