Hiring nowSpace missions and aerospace autonomy

Spacecraft Autonomy Engineer

Also called Space AI Engineer

A Spacecraft Autonomy Engineer builds the software that lets a spacecraft act sensibly on its own within limits the mission has approved. It matters because signal delays and outages mean nobody can steer in real time.

What they do

The work is writing and testing autonomy functions that run on flight software, such as fault detection, safe-mode logic, onboard scheduling and responses to unexpected sensor readings. Each function has to stay inside boundaries the mission team has signed off. Day to day, the engineer builds scenarios in mission simulators and digital twins, runs them against injected faults, and reads telemetry to see what the system actually did. They agree limits with operations and science colleagues, record assumptions, and fix gaps the tests expose.

What a strong hire delivers

In the first months, a strong hire delivers a working autonomy subsystem with clear boundaries on what it may decide. They produce a set of mission scenarios that test it, including loss of contact and component faults. They leave behind documented constraints, test evidence the mission team trusts, and a shorter list of unknown failure modes than the one they inherited.

How you can tell they are good

Ask them to walk through an autonomy function they built and where they drew its limits. A strong candidate explains what the system may decide alone, what it must hand back, and how they proved it stayed in bounds. Ask for a fault they did not predict. Be wary of people who talk only about clever algorithms and never about constraints, testing or operations.

Why it is hard to fill

Few people have shipped autonomy on real flight software, and the job title varies widely. Candidates often sit under robotics, guidance and control, mission operations or space AI. Most have only part of the mix: strong control skills without fault management, or operations experience without software depth. We usually have to judge adjacent backgrounds carefully and look at what they have actually validated.

Where to find them

Look in aerospace engineering teams, mission operations groups and robotics companies working on autonomous vehicles or field machines. Space science and Earth observation teams also produce people who know telemetry and remote sensing. Typical titles include flight software engineer, guidance and control engineer, robotics engineer, systems engineer and operations engineer. Satellite builders, launch and in-orbit service companies, and research institutes are all worth checking.

Indicative pay

Not enough published evidence yet to give a fair range for this role, which is common for work this new. We benchmark it for you as part of a search.

Interview questions for a Spacecraft Autonomy Engineer

  1. Describe an autonomy function you built for a vehicle or spacecraft. What was it allowed to decide alone, and who agreed those limits?

    A strong answer names concrete decisions, the approval route and the reasons for each boundary. Look for operations input and written constraints. Worry if limits were set informally or the candidate cannot say who owned them.

  2. How would you test fault handling when the spacecraft cannot reach the ground for an extended period?

    Good answers cover injected faults in simulation, combined failures, expected safe states and recovery checks. They test long silence, not just single events. Worry about reliance on nominal cases or untested assumptions about contact.

4 more questions, with what a strong answer covers, are in the Role Kit.

Job description you can post

We are hiring a Spacecraft Autonomy Engineer to build onboard autonomy that acts sensibly when ground contact is limited or lost. You will work with flight software, operations and science colleagues to implement functions that stay inside mission-approved boundaries, and to prove it through scenario testing.

What you will do

  • Implement autonomy and fault management functions within flight software
  • Build mission scenarios in simulators and digital twins, including fault injection
  • Define and document decision boundaries with operations and science teams
  • Analyse telemetry to understand real system behaviour and find gaps
  • Support reviews with clear evidence of constraint compliance
  • Investigate anomalies and feed fixes back into the design

What you will bring

  • Shipped or validated autonomy, control or fault management software on a spacecraft, vehicle or robot
  • Working knowledge of robotics and control methods
  • Experience building tests in simulation or digital twin environments
  • Comfort reading telemetry and diagnosing incidents
  • Clear written communication of assumptions and limits
  • Ability to work across engineering, operations and science teams

Nice to have

  • Experience with flight software in a mission setting
  • Background in remote sensing or Earth systems data
  • Mission operations experience

Free to use and adapt. If it saves you time, a link back to this page is appreciated.

Skills that matter

  • Robotics and controlAdvancedPerceive, plan and act through physical systems
  • Geospatial and earth systemsAdvancedAnalyse spatial, temporal and environmental information
  • Simulation and digital twinsWorkingBuild useful virtual representations of environments
  • Reliability and incident responseWorkingDetect failures, restore service and prevent recurrence

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How we wrote this

Role definitions are our own editorial work, checked against occupational classifications, standards, research and employer pages. Titles vary by company, and this is a description of the work, not a job advert.

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