Senior GNC Engineer

EVONA; California; On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

EVONA is seeking a Senior GNC Engineer to design and ship advanced guidance, navigation, and control algorithms for spacecraft propulsion systems. You will implement closed-loop burn strategies, perform stability analyses, and drive hardware-in-the-loop validation across multiple programs.

You will own the GNC codebase, maintain simulation capabilities, and support mission design reviews with robust analysis products, contributing to the company’s growing space systems team.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in aerospace, mechanical, electrical engineering or physics.
• 5+ years of GNC experience on space vehicles with end-to-end ownership.
• Strong MATLAB/Simulink/model-based design experience.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement GNC flight algorithms for spacecraft propulsion systems, including closed loop burn execution, thrust, delta-v estimation, burn targeting, cutoff logic, and trajectory correction maneuvers.
• Own the GNC flight code: architecture, implementation, review standards, configuration management, and verification evidence.
• Develop and maintain 6 degrees of freedom simulation capability for burn execution and dispersion analysis across multiple programs.
• Perform stability analysis of control loops and document it to flight-review standards.
• Define hardware-in-the-loop test campaigns: test objectives, pass/fail criteria, fault injection cases, and test procedures.
• Validate flight software against simulation truth models and HIL results; connect analysis, code, and test.
• Support mission design reviews with GNC analysis products: pointing budgets, execution-error models, and dispersion results.

Skills

GNC algorithm design

control theory

trajectory analysis

flight software validation

Education

Bachelor's degree in aerospace, mechanical, electrical engineering or physics

Tools

MATLAB/Simulink

HIL testing

C/Rust

Job description

A pioneering space company developing next-gen orbital mobility solutions is hiring a Senior GNC Engineer to not just design algorithms but ship them. You will implement guidance, navigation, and control algorithms for spacecraft propulsion systems, carry them through hardware-in-the-loop validation, and set the GNC engineering standards for a growing team.

What You'll Be Doing:

• Design and implement GNC flight algorithms for spacecraft propulsion systems (chemical and electric), including closed loop burn execution, thrust, delta-v estimation, burn targeting, cutoff logic, and trajectory correction maneuvers.
• Own the GNC flight code: architecture, implementation, review standards, configuration management, and verification evidence.
• Develop and maintain 6 degrees of freedom simulation capability for burn execution and dispersion analysis across multiple programs.
• Perform stability analysis of control loops (classical margins, disturbance and slosh interaction, actuator/sensor dynamics) and document it to flight-review standards.
• Define hardware-in-the-loop test campaigns: what to test, pass/fail criteria, fault injection cases, and test procedures.
• Validate flight software against simulation truth models and HIL results; close the loop between analysis, code, and test.
• Support mission design reviews (PDR/CDR) with GNC analysis products: pointing budgets, execution-error models, and dispersion results.

Experience required:

• Bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, physics, or related field.
• 5+ years of GNC experience on space vehicles, with demonstrated ownership of algorithms from design through implementation and test.
• Strong proficiency in MATLAB/Simulink, including model-based design of flight algorithms.
• Solid foundation in control theory and stability analysis (frequency- and time-domain methods, robustness margins).
• Working knowledge of spacecraft attitude dynamics, orbital mechanics, and propulsive maneuver design.
• Experience validating GNC software through hardware-in-the-loop testing, including defining test objectives and criteria.
• Experience writing flight or embedded software in C or Rust.
• Experience with propulsion-specific GNC: finite-burn effects, thrust/Isp uncertainty, propellant slosh, optimal jet select.
• Experience with both chemical and electric propulsion control (long-duration low-thrust guidance a plus).
• Experience with strapdown navigation, IMU error modeling, and sensor fusion.
• Monte Carlo and linear covariance dispersion analysis experience.
• GMAT, STK, FreeFlyer, or equivalent astrodynamics tooling.