Flight Dynamics Software Engineer
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Summary
Develops Loft Orbital's in-house flight dynamics software stack — orbit determination, propagation, maneuver planning, and collision avoidance — to automate flying a fleet of 50+ satellites, primarily as Python backend services, while supporting operations engineers with astrodynamics expertise.
Wanna join the adventure?
Loft Orbital is looking for a Flight Dynamics Software Engineer to join the Ground Platform organization.
You'll work on a small and driven team, developing our flight dynamics software stack so that it can:
- Scale to fly 50+ satellites in orbit in a highly automated, reliable, and safe (from a collision avoidance perspective) manner
- Enable new conops and customer missions with demanding orbit determination, stationkeeping, and attitude performance requirements
We're looking for someone with a solid theoretical understanding of astrodynamics, operational flight-dynamics experience, and software-engineering foundations. If you enjoy solving hard problems and working in a fast-paced and supportive environment, we'd love to hear from you.
We’re hiring for one position across multiple locations - you only need to apply once.
About this role:
- Implement and improve upon algorithms for orbit determination, orbit propagation, maneuver planning (stationkeeping/orbit transfer), conjunction assessment, collision avoidance, and attitude modeling, contributing to our open-source astrodynamics tooling that powers both flight operations and simulation work across the company
- Develop and maintain the in-house flight dynamics ground software backend applications that compute, store, and serve our fleet’s ephemerides, maneuvers, conjunctions, target orbits, etc
- Interface with systems and mission engineers to help translate technical mission requirements and customer demands into operational outcomes in orbit
- Support satellite operations engineers by providing astrodynamics expertise during LEOP/anomalies/conjunction response and assisting with configuring our software stack for various customer missions
Must Haves:
- Bachelor's degree in physics or an engineering discipline
- Deep technical understanding of some of the following topics: orbital mechanics, state estimation, spacecraft maneuver planning, conjunction assessment, and spacecraft attitude modeling
- Fundamentals of numerical methods: solvers, optimization, and simulation techniques
- Experience with designing and developing software libraries and backend services, in Python
- Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
Nice to Haves:
- Master’s degree in physics or an engineering discipline
- Proficiency in astrodynamics tools such as STK, Astrogator, GMAT, OreKit, Monte, Copernicus, OpenSpaceToolkit, or equivalent
- Demonstrated practical experience in spacecraft constellation flight dynamics operations
- Demonstrated practical experience building high-performance backend software applications and/or libraries
- Capable of solving complex problems within a highly collaborative environment
Some of Our Awesome Benefits:
- 100% company-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance option for employees and dependents
- Flexible Spending (FSA) and Health Savings (HSA) Accounts offered with an employer contribution to the HSA
- 100% employer paid Life, AD&D, Short-Term, and Long-Term Disability insurance
- Flexible Time Off policy for vacation and sick leave, and 12 paid holidays
- 401(k) plan and equity options
- Daily catered lunches and snacks
- International exposure to our team in France
- Fully paid parental leave; 14 weeks for primary caregiver and 10 weeks for secondary caregiver
- Carrot Fertility provides comprehensive, inclusive fertility healthcare and family-forming benefits with financial support
- Off-sites and many social events and celebrations
- Relocation assistance when applicable
*Research shows that while men apply to jobs where they meet an average of 60% of the criteria, women and other underrepresented people tend to only apply when they meet 100% of the qualifications. At Loft, we value respectful debate and people who aren’t afraid to challenge assumptions. We strongly encourage you to apply, even if you don’t check all the boxes.
Who We Are
Loft: Space Made Simple.
Founded in 2017, Loft provides governments, companies, and research institutions with a fast, reliable, and simple way to deploy missions in orbit.
We integrate, launch, and operate spacecraft, offering end-to-end missions as a service across Earth observation, IoT connectivity, on-orbit AI, national security missions, and more. Leveraging our existing space infrastructure and an extensive inventory of satellite buses, Loft is reducing years-long integration and launch timelines to months. With more than 30 missions flown, Loft’s flight heritage and proven technologies enable customers to focus on their mission objectives.
With a growing fleet on track to reach 30 satellites by 2027, we are scaling up quickly across our offices in San Francisco, CA | Golden, CO | and Toulouse, France to meet accelerating demand for space infrastructure.
As an international company your resume will be reviewed by people across our offices so please attach a copy in English.
Skills
As published by lever · 10 questions · 4 written answers
Basics
Resume/CV, Full name, Email, Phone, Current location, Current company, LinkedIn URL, Twitter URL, GitHub URL, Portfolio URL, Other website
Short answers (1)
- What is your notice period and when would you be available to start?
Pick from a list (5)
- This role requires at least 3 days a week in the office, are you able to easily commute to the location the role is based in? optional
- If not, would you be open to relocating? Please note, we do provide relocation assistance optional
- Are you currently legally authorized to work in the United States? optional
- Will you now or in the future require employer sponsorship to work in the United States? optional
- Which programming language is explicitly mentioned in the job description? optional
Written answers (4)
- If you selected “Yes” to requiring sponsorship now or in the future, please specify your current visa or work authorization status (e.g. H-1B, TN, OPT, etc.)
- How did you hear about us? (LinkedIn, job board, recruiter outreach, employee referral, etc.)
- Any other information you would like us to know? optional
- Describe a technical project or challenge you’ve worked on that best demonstrates your ability to combine software engineering with flight dynamics or astrodynamics. What problem were you solving, what was your approach, and what was your personal contribution?