Senior Spacecraft GNC Engineer: Attitude & Flight Control

Varda Space Industries, Inc.; El Segundo (CA); Hybrid; USD 169,000 - 216,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Long-term incentives

Job summary

Varda Space Industries, Inc. is seeking a Senior Space Guidance, Navigation, and Controls (GNC) Engineer to own the full life cycle of GNC development from design to flight testing. You will create and validate models, perform Monte Carlo analyses, and contribute to in-house simulation frameworks.

You will lead end-to-end GNC work, integrate sensors and actuators, and coordinate with internal teams and government partners to ensure safe, reliable vehicle operations in LEO missions.

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.
• 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 necessary.
• Coordination with other spacecraft operators, 3rd party agencies, and the US government.

Skills

C++/Python

GNC design

Monte Carlo analysis

system engineering

Education

B.S. in aerospace/ME/EE/physics

Master's degree in engineering or physics

Tools

MATLAB/Simulink

GMAT

POST2

Job description

Varda Space Industries, Inc. is seeking a Senior Space Guidance, Navigation, and Controls (GNC) Engineer to own the full life cycle of GNC development from design to flight testing. You will create and validate models, perform Monte Carlo analyses, and contribute to in-house simulation frameworks.

You will lead end-to-end GNC work, integrate sensors and actuators, and coordinate with internal teams and government partners to ensure safe, reliable vehicle operations in LEO missions.