Mission Design Lead

At Stoke, we believe a thriving space economy will enable a vibrant, sustainable, and equitable future here on Earth. That is why we’re building Nova, our fully and rapidly reusable launch vehicle. Designed for daily flight, Nova tackles the core challenges of space transportation by reducing cost, increasing availability, and improving reliability. By radically lowering launch costs and increasing flight cadence, we’re helping create a truly scalable space industry.

Our team is mission-driven, collaborative, and empowered to take ownership of their work. If you want to work alongside some of the most dedicated and talented people on Earth, we’d love to have you join us.

This is a new organization within Stoke, with a goal to develop products on a 3–10 year horizon that grow Stoke beyond launch. Nova moves mass to orbit. This group takes on what comes next: spacecraft and on-orbit mobility that move mass to any orbit, downmass that returns it to Earth, and the satellites, platforms and factories that put mass to work once it is there. The organization is small by design, and everyone here carries a second hat.

Description

As Mission Design Lead you own mission design for everything the new organization builds. You answer the two questions every product here starts with: given a spacecraft, what missions can it perform, and given a mission, what spacecraft does it take. You will design and compare trajectories across LEO, MEO, GEO, cislunar and lunar space, from orbital transfer and long-dwell to refueling logistics, constellation deployment and return to Earth, and turn them into delta-v budgets, propulsion sizing inputs, timelines and requirements for the group's products. Your trajectories feed the rest of the analysis: thermal environments for propellant management, aerothermal loads for aerobraking and reentry, power and eclipse profiles, communication geometry. You will build and maintain the in-house trajectory and mission-analysis tools so that every product in the portfolio is evaluated on the same physics. You must be ready to stay focused, move fast, self-direct, and learn on the fly.

Key responsibilities

• Design, optimize and compare trajectories and mission profiles across LEO, MEO, GEO, cislunar and lunar regimes for the group's products.
• Map vehicle capability to mission capability and back: delta-v budgets, propellant and timeline trades across chemical, electric and multi-mode propulsion, and the mission-class definitions that drive vehicle requirements.
• Provide trajectory-derived inputs to other studies: thermal and radiation environments, aerothermal loads for atmospheric flight phases, eclipse and power profiles, ground-contact and communication geometry.
• Build and maintain the organization's trajectory and mission-analysis tooling (own code plus industry packages such as GMAT, Copernicus, FreeFlyer, STK or POST2).
• Define GNC and flight-dynamics requirements that flow from the mission design, and verify the flight system, in-house or partner-provided, performs against them.
• Own flight-safety, conjunction-assessment and regulatory analysis for maneuvering missions.
• Help grow the mission design team as the products mature.

Minimum qualifications

• Master's or PhD in aerospace engineering, astrodynamics, applied mathematics or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• 8+ years of mission design or flight dynamics experience, including at least one spacecraft mission flown as mission design or flight dynamics lead.
• Deep command of orbital mechanics and trajectory optimization across multiple regimes (LEO through cislunar), including low-thrust and multi-burn problems.
• Writes their own tools: Python, MATLAB, C++ or similar, plus at least one industry mission-design package.
• Working knowledge of how trajectory choices drive thermal, power, radiation and aerothermal environments, and of GNC and navigation fundamentals.
• Demonstrated ability to make rapid, well-reasoned trades with incomplete information.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to lead and to follow.

Preferred qualifications

• Mission design for GEO, cislunar or lunar missions (transfer, capture, landing) or refueling and servicing logistics.
• Aerobraking, aerocapture, or entry, descent and landing trajectory design.
• Electric and multi-mode propulsion trajectory design.
• Rendezvous and proximity operations mission design.
• GNC architecture or flight software experience, for when the group brings that capability in-house.
• Experience building or leading a flight dynamics or mission design group.
• Familiarity with national-security space mission planning

Benefits

• Equity – We know that our employees are the reason we succeed. To give everyone a stake in our future, we are pleased to offer equity in the form of stock options to all regular, full-time employees.
• Comprehensive benefits program including subsidized medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Company-paid life and disability insurance
• 401(k) plan with employer match
• 4 weeks’ Paid Time Off
• Holidays – 10 days (including an end-of-year closure)
• Paid Family/Parental Leave
• On-site gym or monthly wellness stipend (depending on location)
• Dog friendly offices!

Compensation

Target Levels:

• Level 4 Range: $151,305 - $252,105
• Level 5 Range: $176,505 - $327,810
• Level 6 Range: $262,185 - $393,435

Our job posts are intentionally written to attract a wide variety of experience levels, and we make decisions about the right fit on a per-candidate basis.

Your actual level and base salary will be decided based on your specific experience and skill level.

ITAR Requirements

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S. (i.e., current Green Card holder), or protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3).

Separate from this I-9 process, as noted above, this position entails access to certain technology and technical data that is restricted under U.S. export control laws and regulations. Employment or continued employment may be conditioned on your legal authorization to work with or have access to export control materials as necessary to perform your job.

Candidate Rights & Accommodations