About the Role

Apex is standing up a dedicated Autonomy team. Commissioning of a spacecraft has traditionally required an operator working a checklist and watching telemetry. This approach does not scale to a constellation of vehicles. As an Autonomy Engineer, you will turn manual operations procedures into automated, testable software, own fault protection across every bus, and build the tooling that lets a small operations team fly a large fleet of vehicles. You will help Apex work toward true onboard autonomy: vehicles that prioritize their own tasking, plan their own maintenance, and respond to their own environment instead of waiting for an operator to intervene.

Responsibilities:

• Automate commissioning end-to-end – Sequence of Events as a loadable ground procedure that ties flight sequences to health verification, captures telemetry continuously, and produces reports as a byproduct of execution rather than a separate effort.

• Extend the same procedure tool set to Day-In-The-Life testing and automate ingestion of ground test data for comparison against on-orbit telemetry to catch anomalous behavior early.

• Own the design, test, and maintenance of Fault Detection, Isolation, and Recovery across all Apex satellite bus lines.

• Build on-orbit task and schedule generation tooling with Mission Operations, GNC, Thermal, Power, and Flight Software, structured so Autonomy owns the code and infrastructure across product-lines while Ops owns per-program configuration.

• Shadow operators through commissioning and anomaly response, automating manual tasking for future vehicles, and provide surge support on console.

• Drive long-term onboard autonomy: tasking prioritization and ad-hoc re-planning, station-keeping, and collision avoidance from maneuver generation through execution.

Required Qualifications:

• U.S. Person status is required as this position needs to access export-controlled data

• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or related field

• 3+ years of experience in spacecraft operations, flight software, or mission autonomy, including commissioning and anomaly resolution

• Experience designing or maintaining spacecraft fault protection

• Proficiency in Python and a compiled language such as C++ or Rust

• Proficiency with Lua/Teal, TypeScript, or other scripting languages

• Experience with software integration, testing, and validation for real-time and distributed systems

• Strong understanding of spacecraft subsystems (GNC, Propulsion, Avionics, Thermal, Power, Communications)

• Willingness to support on-console operations outside normal business hours during commissioning and anomalies

• Strong communication, teamwork, and customer-facing abilities

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience building ground software: procedure engines, command and telemetry systems, scheduling tools, or test automation frameworks

• Background in automated planning and scheduling, or autonomous maneuver planning

• Subsystem depth in GNC, Thermal, or Power sufficient to write and validate fault responses

#LI-HC1

What We Offer For Full-time Employees:

• Shared upside: Receive equity in Apex, letting you benefit from the work you create