Senior GNC Engineer: Spacecraft Attitude & Reentry

Varda Space Industries; El Segundo (CA); On-site; USD 169,000 - 216,000; Full time

Job summary

Varda Space Industries is seeking a Senior GNC Engineer to own the full life cycle of GNC development—from design through hardware-in-the-loop tests and flight operations. You will perform system analyses, run simulations, and contribute to architecture decisions for the in-house aerospace framework.

You will lead end-to-end GNC execution, from initial analysis and design to vehicle integration, mission planning, and flight support for on-orbit and reentry scenarios.

Qualifications

• B.S. degree in aerospace, mechanical, electrical engineering, physics, or related field.
• 5+ proven years of experience, or PhD with 3+ years of relevant experience.
• Demonstrated knowledge in designing, modeling, testing, and flying aerospace guidance, navigation, and control systems.
• Highly adept software and model development skills, particularly in C++/Python.
• Understanding of orbital mechanics, modeling and simulation, and software development.
• Experience anchoring/fitting first principles models to test data or high‑fidelity external simulations.
• Proven system engineering and configuration management skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Responsibilities

• ADCS hardware performance specification including sizing of reaction wheels, torque rods, IMU/GPS, and star trackers
• Design and implementation of autonomous satellite attitude control, collision avoidance, orbital rendezvous, burn planning and atmospheric re‑entry algorithms
• Perform trajectory design, optimization, and dispersion analysis for the reentry of a space capsule
• Develop 6 degree of freedom vehicle simulation using C++, Python and MATLAB/Simulink
• Running Monte Carlo analysis to characterize performance of new vehicle and mission capabilities
• Integration and testing of GNC sensors, actuators, and software in hardware‑in‑the‑loop environment
• Design and implementation of ground tooling necessary to facilitate fully automated maneuver responsibility and maneuver scheduling decisions
• Monitoring on‑orbit system performance; troubleshooting where necessaryCoordination with other spacecraft operators, 3rd party agencies, and the US government

Skills

C++/Python

Orbital mechanics

Modeling & simulation

Software development

Written and verbal communication

Education

B.S. degree in aerospace, mechanical, electrical engineering, physics, or related field

Master's degree in engineering or physics

Tools

C++

Python

GMAT

POST2

Job description

Varda Space Industries is seeking a Senior GNC Engineer to own the full life cycle of GNC development—from design through hardware-in-the-loop tests and flight operations. You will perform system analyses, run simulations, and contribute to architecture decisions for the in-house aerospace framework.

You will lead end-to-end GNC execution, from initial analysis and design to vehicle integration, mission planning, and flight support for on-orbit and reentry scenarios.