Avionics DFI Engineer III

About this role

Application close date: Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the requisition is closed. At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We’re working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight!   

This role is part of the Lunar Permanence business unit, which develops Blue Origin’s Blue Moon landers and related products. To further Blue Origin's mission of millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth, we are building sustainable infrastructure for our transport of crew and cargo from Earth to the lunar surface.

At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We’re working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our diverse team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight!   This role is part of the Lunar Permanence business unit. To further Blue Origin's mission of having millions of people living and working in space, we are building the sustainable infrastructure for our transport of crew and cargo from Earth to the Lunar Surface. As part of a small, passionate and accomplished team of experts, you will be responsible for Development Flight Instrumentation (DFI) for the MK-1 lunar lander as part of the MK-1 Avionics team. This position will directly impact the history of space exploration and will require your dedicated commitment and detailed attention towards safe and repeatable spaceflight. Passion for our mission and vision is required!

RESPONSIBILITIES: Development Flight Instrumentation • Serve as the primary technical authority for Development Flight Instrumentation (DFI), leading the full subsystem lifecycle—from concept, requirements definition, and architecture through design, analysis, integration, verification, and validation for lunar missions • Architect and design DFI solutions leveraging a combination of custom and COTS avionics hardware, including flight computing, signal conditioning, data acquisition systems, sensors, and harnessing • Design, integrate, and test flight hardware assemblies to verify functionality and robustness against system requirements and mission targets • Develop and maintain ground support equipment and test electronics (hardware and software) to support instrumentation development, integration, and test campaigns • Maintain sensor lists and integration tracking documentation, ensuring accuracy of sensor allocations, locations, wiring/harness mapping, and status throughout vehicle integration • Coordinate and support sensor installation and integration activities, working closely with technicians and product teams to ensure correct placement, calibration, and functional checkout • Support product teams throughout test and flight operations, including real-time operation and monitoring of DFI systems, data management, and post-test data reduction for performance analysis and troubleshooting • Collaborate cross-functionally with product teams to translate mission and vehicle requirements into instrumentation architectures that meet data collection, reliability, and schedule needs • Drive make-vs-buy trade studies and technical decisions for instrumentation hardware and subsystems • Manage DFI subsystem budget, schedule, and cost; coordinate team activities, procure hardware, and manage contractor/vendor relationships • Prepare and deliver status reports and performance updates to stakeholders and leadership • Author and maintain documentation of best practices, lessons learned, and design standards for development flight instrumentation to support continuous improvement across future missions • Ensure DFI designs comply with relevant flight safety, reliability, and environmental requirements for lunar mission applications

Imaging system design & component selection • Own the camera architecture across vehicle imaging needs: engineering situational awareness, deployment/separation witness cams, payload and customer-facing imagery, and public outreach / mission documentation • Trade and select sensors, lenses, windows, filters, and ISPs against mission requirements; produce a documented link budget from photons-on-aperture to bits-on-the-ground • Drive resolution requirements top-down from what each camera needs to show into IFOV, MTF, focal length, sensor pitch, and integration time • Define dynamic range strategy for the lunar lighting environment; evaluate HDR sensors, dual/multi-gain readouts, exposure bracketing, log/PWL encoding, and tone mapping • Coordinate stray-light analysis: sun and Earth glare into the optics • Select and defend mounting locations against FOV coverage, occlusion by vehicle structure, thermal soak, and stray-light paths. Working with Vehicle systems teams to support and finalize camera integration. • Build and maintain the camera FOV / coverage model across mission phases (cruise, lunar orbit, descent, touchdown, surface ops) • Define imaging timelines, exposure plans, and on-board autoexposure logic against comms windows and downlink budget; work with ops to prioritize frames when bandwidth is tight

Vehicle integration • Help define mechanical interfaces: brackets, alignment tolerances, boresight calibration plan, contamination covers, sunshades, and any articulated/deployable mounts • Help define electrical and data interfaces: connector pinouts, harness routing, power switching, sync/trigger, and the data path (CSI-2, GigE Vision, SpaceWire, Camera Link, LVDS, etc.) into C&DH and the downlink chain • Support development of photon budge, frame rate × resolution × bit depth × compression vs. on-board storage and DTE/relay link • Perform camera and DFI V&V: optical bench, thermal-vac, v

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