Senior GNC Engineer, Spacecraft Attitude & Autonomy

Varda Space; El Segundo (CA); On-site; USD 219,000 - 244,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Long-term cash awards

Job summary

Varda Space is seeking a Principal Guidance, Navigation, and Controls Engineer to own the full lifecycle of GNC development, from design to on-vehicle testing and flight support. You will perform system analyses, Monte Carlo studies, and contribute to in-house aerospace simulation frameworks.

You will develop design descriptions and documentation, and see end-to-end execution of GNC from initial analysis through vehicle integration and mission operations.

Qualifications

• B.S. in aerospace, mechanical, electrical engineering, physics or related field.
• 10+ years of experience, or PhD with 7+ years in relevant field.
• Experience designing, modeling, testing and flying aerospace GNC systems.
• Strong software skills in C++/Python.
• Understanding of orbital mechanics and simulations.
• Ability to anchor first-principles models to test data.
• Proven system engineering and configuration management skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication.

Responsibilities

• Specify ADCS hardware performance, size reaction wheels, torque rods, IMU/GPS, star trackers.
• Design autonomous satellite attitude control, collision avoidance, rendezvous and re-entry algorithms.
• Perform trajectory design and dispersion analysis for reentry.
• Develop 6-DOF vehicle simulation using C++ and Python.
• Run Monte Carlo analyses to evaluate new vehicle capabilities.
• Integrate and test GNC sensors/actuators in a hardware-in-the-loop environment.
• Create ground tooling for automated maneuver decisions.
• Monitor on-orbit performance and troubleshoot when needed.
• Coordinate with other spacecraft operators, 3rd parties, and US government.

Skills

C++/Python

GNC design

Orbital mechanics

System engineering

Education

B.S. in aerospace engineering

Master's degree in engineering or physics

Tools

GMAT

POST2

MATLAB/Simulink

Job description

Varda Space is seeking a Principal Guidance, Navigation, and Controls Engineer to own the full lifecycle of GNC development, from design to on-vehicle testing and flight support. You will perform system analyses, Monte Carlo studies, and contribute to in-house aerospace simulation frameworks.

You will develop design descriptions and documentation, and see end-to-end execution of GNC from initial analysis through vehicle integration and mission operations.