Lead GNC and Perception Engineer

Astrolab; Hawthorne (CA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity ownership

Comprehensive health benefits

Flexible PTO

Home office reimbursement

Weekly lunch stipend

Social hours with food and drinks

Job summary

A pioneer in planetary exploration is seeking a GNC and Perception Lead to drive the technical strategy and execution of autonomy systems for commercial planetary rovers. This role involves managing a team of engineers while ensuring the reliability of systems in extreme environments. Ideal candidates will possess a extensive background in GNC and perception systems for autonomous vehicles, with proven leadership skills. The role offers a flexible, remote-friendly environment and extensive health benefits.

Qualifications

• 10+ years working on GNC and perception systems for space vehicles.
• Experience managing teams of 5 to 10 engineers.
• End-to-end experience across vehicle development lifecycles.
• Strong experience with sensor selection and testing.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and delivery of GNC and perception systems.
• Define technical direction across guidance, navigation, and control.
• Manage and mentor a team of GNC and perception engineers.
• Oversee simulation and testing for autonomous systems.

Skills

GNC systems

Perception systems

Team management

Sensor integration

Image processing

Autonomous vehicle algorithms

Education

10+ years in relevant field

Tools

Lidar

Radar

Software for sensor validation

Job description

Overview

Venturi Astrolab, Inc. (Astrolab) is advancing how humanity explores and operates on other planetary bodies. We design, build, and operate multipurpose commercial planetary rovers that extend human capability beyond Earth. We are looking for experienced, driven engineers to help lead this work forward. As the GNC and Perception Lead, you will own the autonomy systems that enable Astrolab’s rovers to operate safely and effectively in extreme environments. You will lead technical strategy and execution across guidance, navigation, control, and perception while managing and mentoring a high-performing engineering team. This role combines deep technical leadership with people leadership. You will set system vision, make critical design decisions, drive execution, and ensure autonomy systems perform reliably on flight-ready vehicles operating on the lunar surface.

What You'll Do

• Lead the design and delivery of GNC and perception systems for autonomous rover operations
• Define technical direction and system architecture across guidance, navigation, control, and perception
• Manage and mentor a team of GNC and perception engineers
• Own sensor strategy, including selection, integration, and performance validation
• Guide the development of localization, navigation, pose estimation, and autonomy algorithms
• Oversee simulation, testing, and verification across lab, field, and analog environments
• Drive integration with hardware, software, systems, and mission operations teams
• Ensure safety, reliability, and fault tolerance across autonomy systems
• Balance performance, risk, and embedded compute constraints
• Support tele-operated, semi-autonomous, and fully autonomous vehicle operations

What’s Prepared You

Required

• 10 or more years working on GNC and perception systems for space vehicles, extraterrestrial rovers, or autonomous terrestrial vehicles
• Experience managing teams of 5 to 10 engineers and delivering under aggressive timelines with limited resources
• End-to-end experience across vehicle development lifecycles, from trade studies through embedded implementation, verification, and operations
• Strong experience with perception systems for autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles, including:
  • Sensor selection and testing across optical, inertial, radar, lidar, and related systems
  • Image processing methods and algorithms
  • Global and relative localization, multi-sensor odometry, and terrain relative navigation
  • Pose estimation, feature detection, and tracking
  • Hazard detection and avoidance
  • Terrain mapping and route planning
  • System integration and testing
• Experience with statistical analysis methods, such as Monte Carlo, for performance evaluation
• Experience designing and executing autonomy test campaigns across lab, field, and analog environments
• Experience implementing GNC and perception systems on embedded platforms with limited compute resources

Desired

• Significant experience with GNC and perception systems for extra-terrestrial rovers
• Hands-on experience designing, analyzing, and testing GNC and perception algorithms
• Experience building simulation environments for autonomy analysis and validation
• Experience developing embedded autonomy software under compute and power constraints
• Experience optimizing image processing pipelines for space missions
• Familiarity with NASA expectations for safety, reliability, and mission assurance
• Experience with mobility systems and motor controllers
• Experience across tele-operated, semi-autonomous, and fully autonomous vehicle modes
• Understanding of extra-terrestrial rover challenges, including power limits, thermal constraints, lunar dust, regolith optics, and lighting conditions
• Experience with inertial navigation systems and lidar-based navigation

What We Offer

• Join a team of best-in-class engineers building the foundation of planetary surface exploration
• Equity ownership in the company
• Comprehensive health benefits, including medical, dental, vision, and mental health support
• 401(k) plan with company match
• Flexible PTO and parental leave
• Home office set-up reimbursement
• Fully flexible and remote-friendly work environment
• Weekly lunch stipend, plus complimentary snacks and beverages on-site
• Twice a month, social hour on-site with food and drinks

About Astrolab

Having a strong, inclusive, and inspired team is essential to accomplishing our bold mission. Employees are our biggest asset, and we are deeply committed to them and our values. At Astrolab we… Demonstrate and inspire trust. Interactions are direct, honest, and respectful. We are fair and transparent with what we do and why. Thrive in balance. Balance gives us perspective and keeps us motivated and inspired. We commit to rewarding work and a fulfilling personal life. Seek diverse perspectives. We ask questions, engage in productive debate and offer alternatives to ensure our solutions and products are robust and a reflection of our collective best. Move with purpose. Quality and reliability are accomplished through efficient ideation and iteration. We act with a sense of urgency and deliver what we promise, always with the big picture in mind. Make an impact. We intentionally move our community and industry into the future through our work, practices, and actions.

Our Hiring Process

Note: This section has been condensed to remove duplicative items from the original. Final stages include application review, interviews, and offer; confirm specifics with the recruiting team.

Equal Opportunity Statement: Astrolab is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. We are committed to equal opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, gender, gender identity, parental or pregnancy status, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, or veteran status. If you need assistance and/or reasonable accommodation during the application or recruiting process, please send a request to [e-mail]. We strive to remove unconscious and unnecessary barriers to build the best team. While we’ve outlined what an ideal candidate could look like, we know that you may bring something unanticipated and essential to the team.