Guidance Navigation Control (GNC) Engineer - Level 2/3

Northrop Grumman; Redondo Beach (CA); On-site; USD 92,000 - 171,000; Full time

Job summary

Northrop Grumman in Redondo Beach, CA, seeks a Guidance Navigation Control (GNC) Engineer at Level 2/3 to provide analysis, design, and operations support for space vehicle and payload control systems. The role covers requirements flow-down, algorithm design, simulation development, and operating procedures to support GNC throughout flight operations.

Responsibilities include translating objectives into GNC requirements, performing trade studies for sensors/actuators/architectures, and building

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree with 2 years of relevant experience, or a Master’s degree.
• Willing and able to obtain a U.S. Government security clearance.
• Ability to perform kinematics, dynamics, and control system analyses for space vehicle and payload GNC.
• Experience using MATLAB/Simulink or C/C++.

Responsibilities

• Translate mission objectives and customer needs into clear GNC requirements.
• Collaborate across functional teams to perform trade studies to choose GNC sensors, actuators, and algorithm architectures.
• Develop and validate high‑fidelity 3‑DOF/6‑DOF models and simulations of attitude, ephemeris, and line‑of‑sight dynamics.
• Design, implement, and verify GNC algorithms, including trackers, filters, and controllers.
• Build, test, and integrate software and simulation tools that enable reliable space vehicle and payload GNC throughout flight operations.

Skills

MATLAB/Simulink

C/C++

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Master’s degree

Job description

RELOCATION ASSISTANCE: Relocation assistance may be available

CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR START: No

CLEARANCE TYPE: None

TRAVEL: Yes, 10% of the Time

Description

At Northrop Grumman, our employees have incredible opportunities to work on revolutionary systems that impact people's lives around the world today, and for generations to come. Our pioneering and inventive spirit has enabled us to be at the forefront of many technological advancements in our nation's history - from the first flight across the Atlantic Ocean, to stealth bombers, to landing on the moon. We look for people who have bold new ideas, courage and a pioneering spirit to join forces to invent the future, and have fun along the way. Our culture thrives on intellectual curiosity, cognitive diversity and bringing your whole self to work — and we have an insatiable drive to do what others think is impossible. Our employees are not only part of history, they're making history.

This position description does not represent a current opening but may be used to identify candidates with skills and experience for positions within Northrop Grumman that frequently become available. Candidates who express an interest may be considered for future positions at Northrop Grumman.

Northrop Grumman's Space Sector is seeking a Guidance Navigation Control (GNC) Engineer - Level 2/3 to provide technical analysis, design, and operations support to space vehicle and payload control systems. Typical assignments involve requirements definition and flow-down, algorithm design, simulation development and maintenance, system performance analysis, software validation, and the development of operating procedures and tools to support systems operation. This position is located in Redondo Beach, CA.

Job responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Translate mission objectives and customer needs into clear GNC requirements.
• Collaborate across functional teams to perform trade studies to choose GNC sensors, actuators, and algorithm architectures.
• Develop and validate high‑fidelity 3‑DOF/6‑DOF models and simulations of attitude, ephemeris, and line‑of‑sight dynamics.
• Design, implement, and verify GNC algorithms, including trackers, filters, and controllers.
• Build, test, and integrate software and simulation tools that enable reliable space vehicle and payload GNC throughout flight operations.

This requisition may be filled at a higher grade based on qualifications listed below.

Basic Qualifications for Guidance Navigation Control (GNC) Engineer - Level 2:

• Bachelor’s degree with 2 years of relevant experience, or a Master's degree
• Willing and able to obtain a U.S. Government security clearance
• Ability to perform kinematics, dynamics, and control system analyses for space vehicle and payload GNC
• Experience using MATLAB/Simulink or C/C++.

Basic Qualifications for Guidance Navigation Control (GNC) Engineer - Level 3:

• Bachelor's degree with 5 years of relevant experience; or a Master's degree with 3 years of relevant experience; PhD with 1 year of relevant experience
• Willing and able to obtain a U.S. Government security clearance
• Ability to perform kinematics, dynamics, and control system analyses for space vehicle and payload GNC
• Experience using MATLAB/Simulink or C/C++.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience designing and implementing attitude-control or state-estimation algorithms
• Experience performing actuator/sensor sizing and selection
• Experience with modeling, simulation, and verification/validation of 3‑DOF/6‑DOF GNC systems
• Ability to conduct complex kinematics and dynamics analyses and to contribute to early-stage (clean-sheet) space vehicle and payload conceptual design
• Experience with software and hardware-in-the-loop testing
• Active TS/SCI clearance

Primary Level Salary Range: $91,800.00 - $137,600.00

Secondary Level Salary Range: $114,000.00 - $171,000.00

The above salary range represents a general guideline; however, Northrop Grumman considers a number of factors when determining base salary offers such as the scope and responsibilities of the position and the candidate's experience, education, skills and current market conditions.

Depending on the position, employees may be eligible for overtime, shift differential, and a discretionary bonus in addition to base pay. Annual bonuses are designed to reward individual contributions as well as allow employees to share in company results. Employees in Vice President or Director positions may be eligible for Long Term Incentives. In addition, Northrop Grumman provides a variety of benefits including health insurance coverage, life and disability insurance, savings plan, Company paid holidays and paid time off (PTO) for vacation and/or personal business.

The application period for the job is estimated to be 20 days from the job posting date. However, this timeline may be shortened or extended depending on business needs and the availability of qualified candidates.

Northrop Grumman is an Equal Opportunity Employer, making decisions without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, national origin, age, veteran status, disability, or any other protected class. For our complete EEO and pay transparency statement, please visit http://www.northropgrumman.com/EEO. U.S. Citizenship is required for all positions with a government clearance and certain other restricted positions.