Space Environment Lighting Engineer

Are you an expert in lighting and looking for your next challenge? Join the specialized teams driving habitability analysis and technology for the Artemis missions, aimed at establishing a sustained human presence in outer space. As a Lighting Engineer within the Johnson Space Center Lighting Lab, you will be part of the Human Factors and Habitability team supporting the NASA Human Health and Performance Contract 2. The Lighting Lab serves as NASA’s hub for lighting expertise, providing consultative support for interior and exterior lighting requirements across all active human spaceflight programs.

From design and inception to evaluation, the Lighting Lab delivers complete lifecycle development of space lighting systems. Using advanced computer graphics workstations and tools—ranging from commercial software to in-house applications—the team predicts environmental illumination challenges and optimizes proposed mitigations for space mission scenarios. The Lighting Lab also conducts physical testing of lamps and materials to assess artificial lamp optical properties, reflective and transmission characteristics of materials, solar lighting effects, and camera performance under operational illumination conditions.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Serve as a Lighting Subject Matter Expert (SME) for research, development, and verification of lighting systems for human-rated vehicles and habitats (ISS, Commercial Crew, Orion, and Artemis, including Pressurized Rover, Lunar Terrain Vehicles, Human Lander System, xEVA suits, and planetary surfaces).
• Participate in planning and execution of human-in-the-loop evaluations of vehicles, habitats, and tools, with particular focus on lighting, vision, and imagery objectives.
• Collaborate with Lighting Lab colleagues to develop an official Lighting Lab position on requirements and standards that impact future space mission design.
• Perform physical testing of lamps and/or materials to determine key illumination parameters.
• Perform interior and exterior lighting analyses using CAD and lighting simulation software (Zemax and Radiance).
• Recommend modifications of lighting standards and requirements for architectural systems and end-item light products to be current with latest research and technology developments.
• Stay current with the newest lighting, lighting control systems, and modeling technologies available to use in spacecraft architectures.

Required Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree with a minimum of 10 years of experience in lighting and/or optical systems.
• Expertise in industry lighting standards, lamp specification datasheets, and lighting testing instrumentation.
• Proven ability to initiate and conduct physical testing of materials and lamps in laboratory or field settings.
• Demonstrated experience in developing lighting and lamp solutions tailored to unique system requirements.
• Strong oral and written communication skills, with the ability to interact effectively with stakeholders across all organizational levels.
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively in small teams.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, discretion with proprietary data, and capability to manage multiple projects simultaneously.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Engineering degree in architectural, electrical, or optical engineering, or a degree in physics or applied physics.
• Experience with spaceflight systems
• Proficiency in simulation and modeling tools such as Zemax, Radiance, ALFA, or Rhino
• Prior experience working with NASA