Head of GN&C for Autonomous Spacecraft

Fortastra Corporation; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 250,000 - 350,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Unlimited PTO

Comprehensive Healthcare

Equity

401(k)

Social events

Job summary

Fortastra in Torrance, CA, seeks a Head of Guidance, Navigation, and Control to define and lead flight-critical GN&C algorithms for autonomous spacecraft. This is a technical leadership role focused on architecture, performance, and delivery across programs.

You will own end-to-end GN&C, guide a high-caliber engineering team, and work across flight software, autonomy, and mission systems to ensure reliable orbit operations.

Qualifications

• Degree in engineering with advanced degree preferred.
• 10+ years of GN&C or autonomous systems experience in spacecraft or related fields.
• Proven ownership of flight-critical GN&C systems from concept to on-orbit operations.
• Strong systems engineering mindset across disciplines.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end GN&C architecture across all spacecraft programs.
• Define and drive technical strategy and roadmap for autonomy-enabled control systems.
• Lead design, implementation, and validation of GNC algorithms for RPO and formation flying.
• Oversee development of ADCS, orbit determination, and state estimation with flight-level reliability.
• Establish engineering standards, modeling practices, and verification methodologies.
• Integrate GN&C with flight software, autonomy, avionics, and mission systems.
• Lead simulation, Monte Carlo analyses, and validation under uncertainty.
• Lead hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) and flight test campaigns.
• Recruit, mentor, and develop a high-caliber GN&C team.

Skills

Control theory

State estimation

Kalman filtering

Orbital mechanics

RPO / formation flying

MATLAB/Simulink

Python

C/C++

Education

B.S./M.S./Ph.D. in Aerospace/Mechanical/Electrical Engineering

Tools

HIL environments

Job description

Fortastra in Torrance, CA, seeks a Head of Guidance, Navigation, and Control to define and lead flight-critical GN&C algorithms for autonomous spacecraft. This is a technical leadership role focused on architecture, performance, and delivery across programs.

You will own end-to-end GN&C, guide a high-caliber engineering team, and work across flight software, autonomy, and mission systems to ensure reliable orbit operations.