Aerospace Medicine Specialist

Application close date:

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! 

• Identify and respond to company needs and engage across programs to ensure medical expertise influences design, operations, and strategy, growing benefit for Blue Origin.
• Develop, implement, and represent Blue Origin health and medical standards and strategy in company, cross-company, as well as in public forums and with key partners to strengthen and form relationships.
• Own and develop technical data and deliverables/products (e.g., health- or medically-related requirements and ConOps).
• Identify human spaceflight risks for vehicle and operational concept development
• Develop mitigations and strategies to prevent or minimize human spaceflight risks

• Relocation may be provided
• Travel encouraged up to 25% of the time
• For physician candidates: Medical Licensure and Board Certification verification required. Board-eligible status may be considered.

Include but are not limited to:

• Support Blue Origin's Chief Medical Officer and engineering teams in the development of health, medical, and human performance vehicle design, ConOps deliverables, and risk assessments; advance company strategies and goals; and collaborate to deliver on company-wide requirements.
• Identify and respond to company needs; engage across programs to ensure health and medical expertise meaningfully influences vehicle design, operations, and organizational strategy.
• Develop, implement, and represent Blue Origin health and medical standards and strategy in internal forums, cross-company engagements, public forums, and with key external partners to strengthen and build relationships.
• Own and develop technical data and deliverables/products (e.g., health- and medically-related requirements and ConOps documents).
• Identify human spaceflight risks associated with vehicle and operational concept development; develop mitigations and strategies to prevent or minimize those risks.
• Develop, test, and deliver countermeasures that may affect crew health, safety, and/or performance during or after spaceflight missions.
• Identify and evaluate medical risks and requirements associated with low Earth orbit, microgravity, hypogravity (e.g., lunar surface), and deep space exploration operations.
• Develop clinical standards of care defining direct care protocols for commercial astronauts and client flight crews before, during, and after missions.
• Advise Business Units and special programs on astronaut health and safety issues to ensure human-rating standards are achieved.
• Certify as a flight controller and serve as a subject matter expert in support of Mission and Flight Operations.
• Support crew launch and recovery operations.

This position is open to candidates from one of the following two professional backgrounds:

• Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) from an accredited institution
• Active and unrestricted state medical license (relevant medical board complaints subject to review)
• Aerospace Medicine Board Certification or board-eligible status
• Continuous clinical practice in a specialty field within the past 2 years

• Bachelor's degree or higher in engineering (e.g. Biomedical, Aerospace, Mechanical) or a closely related field
• Experience supporting human spaceflight programs (e.g., NASA, DoD, commercial spaceflight)
• Demonstrated technical expertise in health- or medical-related engineering within spaceflight or operationally relevant extreme environment contexts

• Health and medical human spaceflight operational experience, particularly associated with Low Earth Orbit and/or exploration-class vehicles and habitats
• Working knowledge of health and medical countermeasures to combat physiological deconditioning, maintain crew member health, and mitigate spaceflight-associated risks
• Understanding of human health impacts in extreme environments (e.g., hyper/hypobaric environments, prehospital and remote medicine)
• Familiarity with life support systems required for human survival in space
• Expertise in astronaut and ground crew emergency response across different phases of flight
• Experience writing and evaluating system requirements and verifications
• Ability to identify, evaluate, and develop new space technologies and procedures
• Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum

• For physicians: Active and unencumbered medical license to practice in Washington, Florida, Texas, or Alabama
• Advanced operational experience with NASA, DoD, or commercial human spaceflight programs
• Experience as a certified flight controller or in an equivalent Mission Operations capacity
• Prior experience developing or contributing to human spaceflight medical standards, policies, or regulatory frameworks

Base Pay Range for:

Don’t meet all desired requirements? Studies have shown that some people are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single desired qualification. At Blue Origin, we are dedicated to building an authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every desired qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.