Flight Dynamics Software Engineer

## 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.