GNC Engineer - Trajectory Design and Guidance Engineer

K2 is building the largest and highest-power satellites ever flown, unlocking performance levels previously out of reach across every orbit. Backed by over $1 billion in total funding from leading investors including Altimeter Capital, ICONIQ, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures, and T. Rowe Price — and with over $1 billion in signed contracts across commercial and US government customers, we're mass-producing the highest-power satellite platforms ever built for missions from LEO to deep space.
The rise of heavy-lift launch vehicles is shifting the industry from an era of mass constraint to one of mass abundance, and we believe this new era demands a fundamentally different class of spacecraft. Engineered to survive the harshest radiation environments and to fully capitalize on today's and tomorrow's massive rockets, K2 satellites deliver unmatched capability at constellation scale and across multiple orbits.
With multiple launches in 2027 and plans to scale to 100 satellites a year, we're Building Bigger — helping develop the solar system and build toward a Kardashev Type II (K2) civilization. If you are a motivated individual who thrives in a fast-paced environment and you're excited about contributing to the success of a high-growth Series D-funded company, we'd love for you to apply.
The Role
You will be the core driver of the spacecraft’s orbital and guidance systems – including low thrust trajectory optimization and mission planning, while executing detailed trade studies to find new and novel ways to implement these strategies, and supporting business development in mission planning and constellation design.
In the first 3 months, you will own and execute the development of the K2 trajectory optimization tooling, standing up the software pipeline to take a trajectory, prove optimality, convert to burn plans, and feed into the K2 ground software for autonomous burn execution. In the first 6 months you will develop the trajectory optimization and mission design capabilities to define how, how fast, and on how much fuel K2 can fly the Mega and Giga spacecraft from LEO to MEO, GTO to cislunar, from launch to a Mars capture orbit. In the first 6 months you will design and implement the core GNC algorithms that fly the spacecraft, with a particular focus on algorithms for on orbit station keeping and low thrust orbit raise. In the first year, you will support on orbit operations of multiple K2 spacecraft flying multiple different K2 developed trajectories.
Responsibilities
Collaborate with other engineers to develop a novel high level vehicle mission plan
Develop novel algorithms for precise OD and station-keeping of very large structures in earth orbit and beyond
Leveraging one of the largest Hall Effect Thrusters ever manufactured, design the low thrust trajectory for the vehicle to reach MEO, GEO, Cis-Lunar, and Mars.
Develop simulation and modeling tools to support vehicle and GNC trade studies
Shape the future of the GNC team by recruiting, interviewing, and mentoring the engineers
Qualifications
Master’s degree or higher in aerospace, electrical, or mechanical engineering, physics, or a related field
2+ years of experience in low-thrust trajectory design
Hands-on work with precise orbit determination
Track record implementing orbit guidance and control algorithms on a spacecraft
Mission design expertise for both Earth-centric and interplanetary missions

Skills
Business Development

Experience
2+ yrs