Lead Spacecraft Attitude & Orbit Control Engineer

spire; Glasgow; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Name Your Satellite Program (NYSP)

Launch Attendance

Generous Time Off Policy

Education Assistance Program

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP)

Family Leave

Fitness Reimbursement

Employee Referral Program (ERP)

Healthy snacks & beverages in every US

Job summary

Spire is seeking a GNC/AOCS Engineer to operate within a technical team responsible for the full lifecycle of engineering products, interfacing with R&D, design, manufacturing and operations to ensure spacecraft systems meet mission requirements.

The role emphasizes fast-paced design-to-launch cycles, hands-on lab work, and collaboration with external contractors to improve reliability and cost. The position offers a hybrid work arrangement with at least three days in the office.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience with spacecraft attitude dynamics and control algorithms.
• Experience designing and/or implementing Kalman filters for attitude estimation.
• Experience with flight sensors for attitude determination/estimation.
• Experience developing software using C/Python.
• Have experience or familiarity with the Linux development environment.
• Have experience working with external engineering contractors.

Responsibilities

• Technical ownership of current and future spacecraft attitude and orbit control software and hardware.
• Design, model, analyze, integrate and operate attitude determination/estimation systems for small spacecraft.
• Develop and utilize spacecraft dynamics and control simulations, including 'hardware-in-the-loop'.
• Design, evaluate, select, qualify and implement flight sensors, including magnetometers, sun sensors, inertial measurement devices, infrared sensors, and/or star trackers.
• Design, evaluate, select, qualify and implement flight actuators, including magnetic torque elements, reaction wheels, and propulsion systems.
• Be hands-on in laboratory and manufacturing environments during testing, integration, and qualification of flight systems.
• Provide support and analysis for on-orbit operations of spacecraft attitude determination and control systems.
• Work with external contractors, manufacturers, and internal manufacturing staff to improve reliability, yield, performance, and cost of flight systems.

Skills

Attitude dynamics

Kalman filters

Flight sensors

C/Python

Linux development

External contractors

Tools

C/C++ for embedded

Job description

Spire is seeking a GNC/AOCS Engineer to operate within a technical team responsible for the full lifecycle of engineering products, interfacing with R&D, design, manufacturing and operations to ensure spacecraft systems meet mission requirements.

The role emphasizes fast-paced design-to-launch cycles, hands-on lab work, and collaboration with external contractors to improve reliability and cost. The position offers a hybrid work arrangement with at least three days in the office.