Senior Spacecraft GNC Engineer — Attitude & Reentry

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

Job summary

Varda Space Industries seeks a Senior Spacecraft Guidance, Navigation, and Controls Engineer to own the full GNC development life cycle—design through flight testing. You will run simulations, perform Monte Carlo analyses, and contribute to an in-house aerospace testing framework.

Expect end-to-end involvement from analysis to on-orbit support. You will design autonomous attitude control, orbital maneuvers and re-entry strategies, while collaborating across teams and with government agencies.

Qualifications

• B.S. in aerospace, mechanical, electrical engineering, physics, or related field.
• 5+ years of proven experience or PhD with 3+ years.
• Experience in designing, modeling, testing, and flying aerospace GNC systems.
• Strong software skills in C++/Python.
• Understanding of orbital mechanics and simulations.

Responsibilities

• Specify ADCS hardware performance (reaction wheels, torque rods, IMU/GPS, star trackers).
• Design autonomous attitude control, collision avoidance, rendezvous and re-entry algorithms.
• Perform trajectory design and dispersion analysis for capsule reentry.
• Develop 6-DOF vehicle simulation in C++, Python, MATLAB/Simulink.
• Run Monte Carlo analyses to assess new vehicle capabilities.
• Integrate and test GNC sensors, actuators, and software in HIL setup.
• Create ground tooling for automated maneuver decisions.
• Monitor on-orbit performance and troubleshoot as needed.
• Coordinate with other spacecraft operators and government agencies.

Skills

C++/Python

Orbital mechanics

GNC design

Systems engineering

Modeling & testing

Education

B.S. in aerospace or related

Master's degree (preferred)

Tools

GMAT

POST2

MATLAB/Simulink

Python tooling

Job description

Varda Space Industries seeks a Senior Spacecraft Guidance, Navigation, and Controls Engineer to own the full GNC development life cycle—design through flight testing. You will run simulations, perform Monte Carlo analyses, and contribute to an in-house aerospace testing framework.

Expect end-to-end involvement from analysis to on-orbit support. You will design autonomous attitude control, orbital maneuvers and re-entry strategies, while collaborating across teams and with government agencies.