Flight Controls Engineer – Space Propulsion & Fluids

Socket.dev; Kent (WA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Medical insurance

401(k)

Paid time off

Relocation assistance

Daily lunch

Job summary

Cowboy Space Corp. in Kent, WA, is hiring a controls engineer to design motor controls and embedded control systems for vehicle fluid systems.

You will develop automated sequences and closed-loop control across propulsion, pressurization, and thermal management, interfacing with propulsion and avionics teams. The role combines electrical, mechanical, and software engineering to deliver flight-ready control solutions from concept through integration and operations, with a focus on robust

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 and tune gains.
• Define and execute hardware-in-the-loop and system-level test campaigns to verify control performance.
• Develop fault detection, isolation, and recovery logic for fluid system automation.
• Work with fluid, propulsion, avionics, and software teams to integrate controls.”
• Support propulsion hot-fire testing and ground system commissioning.
• Investigate anomalies, analyze telemetry data, and iterate on control designs.

Skills

Motor control

Embedded programming

Control loops (PID/Kalman)

Automation sequences

Sensors/actuators integration

Real-time control

Education

Bachelor’s in Mechatronics / Electrical / Mechanical / Aerospace

Tools

MATLAB/Simulink

Python

LabVIEW

Job description

Cowboy Space Corp. in Kent, WA, is hiring a controls engineer to design motor controls and embedded control systems for vehicle fluid systems.

You will develop automated sequences and closed-loop control across propulsion, pressurization, and thermal management, interfacing with propulsion and avionics teams. The role combines electrical, mechanical, and software engineering to deliver flight-ready control solutions from concept through integration and operations, with a focus on robust