Lead Control Systems Engineer, Optical Pointing & Tracking

Blue Origin LLC; Seattle, Northern (WA, KY); Hybrid; USD 231,000 - 323,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision insurance

401(k) with company match

Education Support Program

Stock options

Job summary

Blue Origin in Seattle is seeking a Principal Control Systems Engineer to own the PAT control architecture for the TeraWave pointing, acquisition and tracking system across satellite payloads and ground stations. You will lead a team of controls engineers, driving high bandwidth tracking, rapid link acquisition, and integration across optics, mechanisms, avionics, and network operations.

You will guide control algorithm implementation in flight software and hardware platforms, collaborate with

Qualifications

• MS in Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, or related field.
• 12+ years of experience in control systems design for precision electro-optical or opto-mechanical systems.

Responsibilities

• Own the end to end PAT control architecture for TeraWave optical inter satellite and space to ground terminals.
• Define control requirements, error budgets, and key performance metrics, including pointing accuracy and acquisition time.
• Lead trade studies evaluating pointing mechanisms, sensors, and control topologies for terminal designs.
• Design and validate control loops for fine beam steering, coarse pointing, and beacon acquisition.
• Develop acquisition strategies, including scan patterns, dwell time optimization, and satellite to ground handover procedures.
• Implement control algorithms in flight software, FPGA and SoC platforms, and MATLAB or Simulink simulation environments.
• Integrate PAT control with spacecraft ADCS, avionics, timing systems, and the network control plane.
• Build and maintain dynamic models of PAT subsystems, covering mechanisms, actuators, sensors, and structural modes.
• Lead PAT test campaigns and on-orbit commissioning, including anomaly investigation and performance optimization.
• Collaborate across disciplines with optical, mechanical, thermal, structural, and avionics engineers.

Skills

Control theory

Real-time control

Embedded platforms

C/C++

MATLAB/Simulink

Python

Team leadership

System integration

Education

MS in Electrical Engineering

MS in Aerospace Engineering

MS in Mechanical Engineering

PhD preferred

Tools

FPGA/SoC

RTOS

Job description

Blue Origin in Seattle is seeking a Principal Control Systems Engineer to own the PAT control architecture for the TeraWave pointing, acquisition and tracking system across satellite payloads and ground stations. You will lead a team of controls engineers, driving high bandwidth tracking, rapid link acquisition, and integration across optics, mechanisms, avionics, and network operations.

You will guide control algorithm implementation in flight software and hardware platforms, collaborate with