Mission Design Lead
Stoke Space is a pioneering aerospace company dedicated to revolutionizing space transportation with Nova, a fully and rapidly reusable launch vehicle. The Mission Design Lead will be integral to a new organization within Stoke, focusing on developing products that extend beyond launch capabilities over a 3–10 year horizon. This team is responsible for spacecraft and on-orbit mobility solutions, including mass movement to various orbits, return to Earth, and the deployment of satellites, platforms, and factories in space.
In this role, the Mission Design Lead will design and optimize mission profiles across Low Earth Orbit (LEO), Medium Earth Orbit (MEO), Geostationary Orbit (GEO), cislunar, and lunar regimes. Responsibilities include mapping vehicle capabilities to mission requirements, providing trajectory-derived inputs for thermal, power, radiation, and aerothermal analyses, and developing in-house trajectory and mission-analysis tools. The lead will also define guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) and flight dynamics requirements, ensuring flight systems meet these standards, and will oversee flight-safety, conjunction-assessment, and regulatory analyses for maneuvering missions.
Candidates should possess a Master's or PhD in aerospace engineering, astrodynamics, applied mathematics, or a related field, with over 8 years of mission design or flight dynamics experience, including at least one spacecraft mission led as mission design or flight dynamics lead. Proficiency in orbital mechanics and trajectory optimization across multiple regimes, including low-thrust and multi-burn problems, is essential. Experience in writing tools using Python, MATLAB, C++, or similar languages, along with familiarity with industry mission-design packages, is required. A solid understanding of how trajectory choices influence thermal, power, radiation, and aerothermal environments, as well as GNC and navigation fundamentals, is necessary. Strong written and verbal communication skills, along with the ability to lead and collaborate effectively, are also important.
Stoke Space offers a comprehensive benefits package, including equity in the form of stock options, subsidized medical, dental, and vision insurance, company-paid life and disability insurance, a 401(k) plan with employer match, and four weeks of paid time off. Additional benefits include ten holidays (including an end-of-year closure), paid family/parental leave, on-site gym access or a monthly wellness stipend (depending on location), and dog-friendly offices.
Joining Stoke Space means becoming part of a mission-driven, collaborative team empowered to take ownership of their work. The company is committed to developing a vibrant, sustainable, and equitable future through innovative space transportation solutions. Employees are encouraged to work alongside some of the most dedicated and talented individuals in the industry, contributing to the creation of a truly scalable space economy.