Embedded Controls Engineer — Space Flight Systems

Cowboy Space; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Medical insurance

401(k) retirement savings plan

Paid time off

10 paid holidays per calendar year

Paid parental leave

Relocation assistance

Daily lunch in the office

Job summary

Cowboy Space Corp. is seeking a senior controls engineer to design and develop motor controls, automation sequences, and embedded control systems for the vehicle’s fluid subsystems.

You will work at the intersection of electrical, mechanical, and software engineering to deliver flight‑ready solutions from concept through integration and operations, in the Seattle area. The role collaborates across propulsion, avionics, and software teams to enable robust control of propulsion, pressurization,

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechatronics, Electrical, Mechanical, Aerospace, or related engineering field.
• 3+ years of experience in controls engineering, mechatronics, or automation for hardware systems.
• Experience with motor control (BLDC, stepper, or brushed) including drive electronics and feedback control.
• Experience with PID control loops, kalman filtering, feedforward control or other control loops and estimation algorithms.
• Proficiency in embedded programming (C/C++) for real‑time control applications.
• Experience developing automated sequences or state machines for complex physical systems.
• Hands‑on experience integrating sensors, actuators, and control electronics into hardware assemblies.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement motor control systems for electrically actuated valves and pumps, interfacing with drive electronics, feedback sensing, and control algorithms.
• Develop automated sequences for propellant fill, drain, vent, and conditioning operations on both vehicle and ground support equipment.
• Architect and implement closed‑loop control for fluid system parameters across propulsion and thermal subsystems.
• Select and integrate actuators, motors, encoders, position sensors, and pressure/temperature instrumentation for fluid system control.
• Design control electronics hardware or define requirements for electrical engineering partners.
• Develop embedded firmware and real‑time control software for fluid system controllers and sequencers.
• Perform system modeling and simulation to validate control strategies, predict transient behavior, and tune controller gains.
• Define and execute hardware‑in‑the‑loop (HIL) and system‑level test campaigns to verify control performance and fault response.
• Develop fault detection, isolation, and recovery logic for fluid system automation to ensure safe operations.
• Work closely with fluid systems, propulsion, avionics, and software teams to integrate controls into the broader vehicle architecture.
• Support propulsion hot‑fire testing, vehicle fill/drain operations, and ground system commissioning.
• Investigate anomalies, analyze telemetry data, and iterate on control designs to improve performance and reliability.

Skills

Mechatronics

Electrical engineering

Aerospace

Embedded C/C++

Control systems

PID control

State machines

Hardware integration

Real-time software

Flight-like testing

Education

Bachelor's degree in relevant engineering

Tools

MATLAB/Simulink

Python

LabVIEW

CAN

SpaceWire

Job description

Cowboy Space Corp. is seeking a senior controls engineer to design and develop motor controls, automation sequences, and embedded control systems for the vehicle’s fluid subsystems.

You will work at the intersection of electrical, mechanical, and software engineering to deliver flight‑ready solutions from concept through integration and operations, in the Seattle area. The role collaborates across propulsion, avionics, and software teams to enable robust control of propulsion, pressurization,