Senior Spacecraft GNC Engineer — Autonomy & Flight

Telemetry Today LLC; El Segundo, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 169,000 - 216,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible PTO

Medical, Dental & Vision insurance

Wellness reimbursement

Parental leave

Relocation support

Equity incentives

401(k) with company match

Job summary

Varda Space Industries in El Segundo, California, is seeking a Senior Spacecraft Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) Engineer to own the full life cycle of GNC development—from design through unit, hardware‑in‑the‑loop, on‑vehicle functionality, and flight testing.

You will perform system analyses, including simulations and Monte Carlo, to satisfy specifications and drive architectural decisions, contributing to our in‑house aerospace simulation framework.

Qualifications

• B.S. degree in aerospace, mechanical, electrical engineering, physics, or related field.
• 5+ 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.
• Strong 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 necessary
• Coordination with other spacecraft operators, 3rd party agencies, and the US government

Skills

C++/Python

GNC design

Aerospace engineering

Orbital mechanics

System modeling

Education

B.S. in aerospace/mechanical/electrical engineering or physics

PhD (with 3+ years)

Tools

MATLAB/Simulink

GMAT/POST2

Job description

Varda Space Industries in El Segundo, California, is seeking a Senior Spacecraft Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) Engineer to own the full life cycle of GNC development—from design through unit, hardware‑in‑the‑loop, on‑vehicle functionality, and flight testing.

You will perform system analyses, including simulations and Monte Carlo, to satisfy specifications and drive architectural decisions, contributing to our in‑house aerospace simulation framework.