Junior Spacecraft Guidance, Navigation and Control Engineer

METECS; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

METECS at NASA's Johnson Space Center seeks a Junior GNC Engineer to support human spaceflight programs such as Gateway, Orion, and the ISS. You will help develop algorithms and validate performance in flight software and hardware environments, working with senior engineers and NASA customers.

You will gain hands-on experience with 6-DOF simulations, HITL/SIL testing, and interface documentation while building practical skills in Kalman filtering, control design, and state estimation.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant engineering or computer science field.
• Strong background in orbital mechanics and control theory; state estimation.
• MATLAB/Simulink; experience with C/C++ and/or Python for algorithms.
• Ability to collaborate in multidisciplinary teams and present findings.

Responsibilities

• Algorithm Development: Assist in designing and implementing control loops for attitude determination and position control.
• Modeling & Simulation: Develop high-fidelity 6-DOF simulations for vehicle dynamics, sensors, actuators.
• Performance Analysis: Run Monte Carlo simulations and stability analyses to meet mission requirements.
• Testing & Verification: Support HITL and SIL testing to validate GNC flight software.
• Mission Operations Support: Analyze flight telemetry to troubleshoot anomalies and assess on-orbit performance.
• Documentation: Create technical reports, design reviews, and ICDs.

Skills

MATLAB/Simulink

C/C++

Python

Orbital mechanics

Control theory

Kalman filtering

Team collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in Aerospace/Software/Mechanical/Electrical Engineering

Tools

Git

GitHub

GitLab

Bitbucket

SVN

Jira

Job description

In this position you will work with our team of engineers and our NASA customers to support human spaceflight programs at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, such as Gateway, the Orion crew vehicle, and the International Space Station. You will assist in the development of Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) subsystem Flight Software (FSW) and integrated Flight Hardware (FHW). This may also include integration with human-computer interfaces, flight computer data interfaces, custom development and integration tools, and spacecraft and space mission environment simulations. Candidates must have solid software development, integration, and testing skills; strong communication abilities, initiative and an aptitude for hands-on problem solving and troubleshooting.

A Junior Spacecraft Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) Engineer typically focuses on supporting the design, analysis, and simulation of systems that manage a spacecraft's trajectory and attitude. At this level, you will work under the mentorship of senior engineers to develop algorithms and validate system performance through rigorous testing.

Key Responsibilities:

• Algorithm Development: Assist in designing and implementing control loops for attitude determination and position control.
• Modeling & Simulation: Develop and maintain high-fidelity 6-DOF (degree-of-freedom) simulation models for vehicle dynamics, sensors (e.g., star trackers, GPS), and actuators (e.g., reaction wheels, thrusters).
• Performance Analysis: Conduct Monte Carlo simulations and frequency-domain stability analyses to ensure compliance with mission requirements.
• Testing & Verification: Support hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) and software-in-the-loop (SIL) testing to validate GNC flight software.
• Mission Operations Support: Analyze flight telemetry data to troubleshoot anomalies and assess on-orbit performance.
• Documentation: Create technical reports, design review presentations, and interface control documents (ICDs).

Required Qualifications:

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace, Software, Mechanical, or Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field (e.g. Physics, Math).
• Technical Knowledge: Strong foundation in orbital mechanics, classical and modern control theory, and state estimation (e.g., Kalman filtering).
• Software Skills: Proficiency in MATLAB/Simulink is standard; experience with C/C++ and/or Python for algorithm implementation is highly valued.
• Communication: Ability to collaborate effectively in multidisciplinary teams and present findings to stakeholders.

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience with Government Off-The-Shelf (GOTS) and/or Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) mission simulation and analysis software tools, such as, NASA’s TRICK, NASA’s GMAT, NASA’s Copernicus, AGI’s STK, and/or ai Solutions’ FreeFlyer.
• Knowledge of GNC HW components such as GPS Receivers, Star Trackers, Inertial Measurement Units, Gyroscopes, Magnetorquers, Control Moment Gyros, Reaction Wheels, and/or cold gas jet thrusters.
• Familiarity with software configuration management systems such as Git, Bitbucket, Subversion (SVN), etc.
• Experience with software issue tracking and delegation tools such as Jira, GitLab, GitHub, Trello, etc.

Citizenship or lawful permanent resident required due to federal position.

About METECS:

We are a high-performance team providing advanced engineering, software, and analysis solutions for human space flight and terrestrial applications. We develop and integrate custom software for NASA and other government and commercial customers utilizing a wide variety of in-house, commercial, and open-source technologies. Our specialties include robotics automation, embedded systems, hardware/software integration, multibody dynamics simulations, immersive computer graphics, XR systems and advanced web-based tools.

METECS is an Equal Opportunity Employer, including veterans and individuals with disabilities.