Onsite Optical GNC Engineer for Star Trackers & Imaging

Optical Society of Southern California; Irvine (CA); On-site; USD 125,000 - 155,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Medical, vision & dental coverage

401(k) retirement plan

Job summary

Impulse Space is seeking a GNC Engineer (Optical Systems) to own star trackers and optical navigation systems across development and operations, collaborating within Autonomous Systems and a fast-paced team.

The role requires a Bachelor's in engineering and 2+ years in image processing, with proficiency in Matlab and C++. You will contribute to flight code, simulations, and mentor junior engineers in attitude determination and sensor integration.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering discipline is required.
• 2+ years of experience in image processing and optical analysis.
• Proficiency in Matlab and C++.
• Experience with camera systems and attitude determination.
• Experience with sensor noise modeling, photometric calibration, or low-light imaging.

Responsibilities

• Implement GNC flight, analysis, and test artifacts for high-performance GNC-adjacent optical systems.
• Develop robust identification, attitude resolution, and object detection algorithms for star trackers and imaging systems
• Support relative navigation through imaging systems
• Quantify and verify sensor performance via first-principles, simulation, and hardware verification
• Contribute to vehicle-level attitude determination improvements and analyses
• Participate in software development, both flight code and simulation
• Create tools for ground and on-orbit development, alignments, and verification, enabling new iterations and design decisions to be realized quickly
• Resolve technical issues with innovative, resourceful solutions
• Communicate design needs, intent, and capability to the broader engineering team
• For Senior and higher, mentor other engineers and define the best practices for sensor-level design and integration into space vehicles

Skills

Image processing

C++

Matlab

Camera systems

Attitude determination

Sensor noise modeling

Low-light imaging

Kalman filtering

Computer vision

Pattern recognition

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering

Master's degree in aerospace, electrical, computer science, or related field

PhD in relevant field

Job description

Impulse Space is seeking a GNC Engineer (Optical Systems) to own star trackers and optical navigation systems across development and operations, collaborating within Autonomous Systems and a fast-paced team.

The role requires a Bachelor's in engineering and 2+ years in image processing, with proficiency in Matlab and C++. You will contribute to flight code, simulations, and mentor junior engineers in attitude determination and sensor integration.