Engineer, Mission Planning
US$120,000 – US$145,000 / yr base salary
Posted 8 Oct 2026
Advertised as “Senior Engineer, Mission Planning”
BranchFactor Summary
The original posting with the fluff stripped out
- Expected experience
- 6+ yrs
- Management level
- Individual contributor
- Employment
- Remote
| Base salary | US$120,000 – US$145,000 / yr |
|---|
Field of studyAerospace Engineering, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Systems Engineering (or related)
Study levelBachelor's or higher
Senior Engineer, Mission Planning
About Us:
BlackSky is a real-time intelligence company. We own and operate the world's most advanced space-based intelligence platform and provide customers satellite imagery, automated analytics and high-frequency monitoring of strategic locations, economic assets and events from around the globe. BlackSky is trusted by the most demanding allied military and intelligence organizations and commercial companies to deliver foresight into critical matters that affect national security and the economy. BlackSky's data enables governments and businesses to see, understand and anticipate change as it happens, giving them the ultimate strategic advantage so they can act quickly. Our global team works with cutting-edge technology to make a difference around the world and prides itself on being people-first, customer-focused and fun.
BlackSky is looking for a strong, self-starting and eager engineer to join our Mission Planning Engineering team. This integrated product team is working to develop and maintain optimized autonomous operations for the BlackSky constellation. The Mission Planning Team works closely with the Mission Management SW Development team: Mission Planners own requirements documentation, initial scope and design documentation, and will lead SW feature development efforts by writing prototype code and/or written system level requirements which are executable by the SW development team. Strong candidates will have deep mission planning algorithm design experience, specifically for satellite or aerial imaging applications. Prior experience with different types of image planning logic, such as point targets, strip mapping, or pushbroom scanning or equivalent experience with time assignment problems is essential. The candidate should have solid experience in developing both prototype code and software system requirements.
In this role, you will develop and track system level requirements, schedules, and technical implementation for a wide variety of mission planning products and see them through to operation on orbit. Opportunities will exist for prototype code development in Python or Go, as well as internal tooling development for measuring KPIs, troubleshooting performance problems, and identifying and correcting inefficiencies in planning algorithms. While the primary responsibility of this hire will be to define system level and software requirements and prototype code, a strong background in production level software or embedded systems experience in spacecraft or autonomous vehicles will be valuable.
We have offices in Herndon, VA and Seattle, WA but are open to remote candidates.
Responsibilities:
- Contribute to mission planning integrated product team, interfacing with mission planning, ground software, and operations and product engineers to plan and execute autonomous constellation operations software features.