Senior GNC Engineer

The Role

As a Senior GNC engineer, you will be a core driver of the overall spacecraft GNC architecture. You will execute detailed trade studies to find new and novel ways to implement the spacecraft’s orbital guidance, orbital control, and attitude and orbit estimation systems. In the first 3 months, you will support the development/improvement of the MEO navigation, taking lessons learned from the Gravitas mission and applying them to the baseline GNC stack. In the first 6 months you will support the development of new and novel navigation approaches to support future programs - specifically solving navigation for GEO, cis lunar, and interplanetary. In parallel you will support the development of the in-house trajectory design scheme and associated analysis workflow. As we learn more about our system, this will lead to updates to both the GNC stack and the K2 6-DOF simulation. The expectation is that all GNC team members commit code to the 6-DOF sim as well as owning a portion of the GNC flight software.

In the first year, you will support launch and on orbit operations of the Trinity mission - the stacked launch of 3 K2 Mega spacecraft. In parallel, you will continue to support improvements, closing the loop on the design, build, test, fly lifecycle.

Responsibilities

• Work with other engineering leads to develop and validate a novel high level vehicle architecture
• Develop novel algorithms for precise navigation in LEO, MEO, GEO, cis lunar, and interplanetary space.
• Develop simulation and modeling tools to support vehicle and GNC trade studies. This includes mission design, controls analysis, and 6-DOF simulation development.
• Contribute to building the GNC organization by recruiting, hiring, and mentoring other engineers

Qualifications

• Experience with implementing estimation algorithms on for flight software and ground software, specifically Kalman Filters, Extended Kalman Filters, and Unscented Kalman Filters
• Experience performing Monte Carlo based analyses and covariance analysis
• Experience with verification and validation of GNC flight software in an integrated environment, leveraging 6-DOF simulation and HITL testing.
• Experience with GNC sensor sizing, selection, and system design
• Experience with Python, Julia, C/C++, Rust, or Matlab for algorithm development, implementation, and simulation

Nice to Have

• Experience with system identification, leveraging on-orbit data
• Experience with early-stage spacecraft conceptual design, i.e. "clean sheet" design work
• Breadth in control algorithm development
• Experience with reaction wheel, control moment gyroscope, or thruster sizing and algorithm implementation
• Experience with trajectory analysis, modeling, optimization, and mission design for GEO, cislunar, interplanetary missions

Compensation and Benefits

• Base salary range for this role is $160,000 - $235,000 + equity in the company
• Salary will be based on several factors including, but not limited to: knowledge and skills, education, and experience level
• Comprehensive benefits package including paid time off, medical/dental/vision coverage, life insurance, paid parental leave, and many other perks

If you don’t meet 100% of the preferred skills and experience, we encourage you to still apply! Building a spacecraft unlike any other requires a team unlike any other and non-traditional career twists and turns are encouraged!

If you need a reasonable accommodation as part of your application for employment or interviews with us, please let us know.

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