GNC Engineer

Fruition Group US; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Fruition Group US seeks a senior engineer to own spacecraft guidance, navigation, and control algorithms. You will advance from underlying math to flight software, implementing robust state estimation and control on hardware.

Expect hands-on work with MATLAB/Simulink, Python, and C/C++ in a real spacecraft environment. You will model orbital dynamics, fuse sensor data, and validate designs through hardware-in-the-loop testing, while collaborating with vehicle architecture and systems engineers

Qualifications

• 5+ years in guidance, navigation, or control for spacecraft or autonomous platforms.
• Strong background in GNC theory and practice, with real hardware exposure.
• Experience moving algorithms from lab to flight hardware within embedded systems.

Responsibilities

• Own algorithms for orbit relative motion, close-proximity and formation operations.
• Develop orientation control systems and sensor fusion for accurate state estimation.
• Model orbital dynamics and external disturbances for robust design.
• Integrate multi-sensor data into a single position/trajectory picture.
• Transition from simulation to embedded flight code and validation on hardware.
• Stress-test designs against uncertainty and failure using statistical methods.

Skills

GNC systems

MATLAB/Simulink

Python

C/C++

Filtering techniques

Nonlinear control

Estimation problems

Hardware-in-loop

Education

Aerospace/Mechanical/Electrical Eng degree

Tools

MATLAB/Simulink

Python

C/C++

Job description

Our client builds spacecraft designed to protect and support sensitive government missions in orbit, with a focus on systems that can maneuver and operate with a high degree of independence once deployed. It's a small, senior engineering group, and the people who join now will have a hand in nearly every major technical decision the company makes.

The role

This person will own the algorithms that let a spacecraft close in on, hold position near, and maneuver precisely around other objects in orbit. It's not a role where you own one narrow piece of a much bigger stack - you'll carry the work from the underlying math and control theory all the way to code running on real flight hardware.

What you'll do

• Build and tune the logic that governs how a spacecraft moves relative to other objects, including close-proximity and formation-style operations.
• Develop the systems that determine and control a spacecraft's orientation, plus the filtering used to pin down its position and trajectory.
• Model how spacecraft move through orbit and how outside forces act on them over time.
• Combine data from multiple sensor types — inertial units, GPS, star trackers, LiDAR, optical navigation — into a single reliable picture of where things are.
• Move your work out of simulation and into embedded flight code, then prove it out on real or flight-representative hardware.
• Stress-test designs against uncertainty and failure cases using statistical simulation methods.
• Coordinate closely with the engineers responsible for the surrounding systems and vehicle architecture.

What you'll bring

• A degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, or Electrical Engineering, or something closely related.
• 5+ years working on the guidance, navigation, or control side of spacecraft, launch vehicles, or other autonomous platforms.
• Comfort in MATLAB/Simulink, Python, and C/C++.
• Hands-on experience with filtering techniques, nonlinear control, and estimation problems.
• A history of getting your algorithms out of the lab and flying on real hardware.