Principal GNC Engineer
About The Position
Outpost is an orbital logistics company rewriting the rules of global logistics by building reusable Earth-return vehicles that unlock in-space manufacturing, on-orbit warehousing, and 60-minute global delivery through space. Our CarryAll vehicle family returns payloads ranging from 200 kilograms to 10 metric tons, lands within 10 meters of its target, and can then be refurbished and launched again. The demand is already here, validated through defense and civil agreements and supported by a growing pipeline of government and commercial customers. We have the customers, the team, and a clear technical path ahead of us. We’re building the return lane. Come build it with us.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in a related technical discipline with 5+ years as a GNC or Controls professional or Advanced degree with 3+ years as a GNC or Controls professional
- Software development experience in C++ and Python.
- Experience in software tools such as Git, Jira, and CI Pipeline
- Algorithms on real hardware (e.g. Extended Kalman Filters, LQR)
- Strong understanding of classical dynamics, modeling and simulation, classical and modern control.
- Ability to work in a fast paced, autonomously driven atmosphere.
- Passion for space and the application of advanced estimation and control techniques in this domain
- U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 22 C.F.R. § 120.15 , or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State
Nice To Haves
- Experience with implementing optimal control for burn planning
- Experience with satellite maneuvering and thruster systems
- Demonstrated project or professional experience in satellite attitude determination and control
- Experience in end-to-end development of three axis stabilized spacecraft incorporating momentum, magnetic, and/or propulsive control.
- Experience with flexible body control, orbital maneuvering, filtering, fault management, software development, and navigation filtering.
Responsibilities
- Modeling, design, analysis, implementation and test of satellite attitude determination and control (ADCS) algorithms.
- Hardware performance specification including reaction wheel and torque rod sizing, sensor noise and performance, characteristics, redundancy and fault management.
- Define and own ADCS requirements definition with electrical and mechanical engineers
- Implement closed loop pointing, orbit raising, and station keeping algorithms for flight.
- Analyze platform stability to ensure low jitter of line-of-sight instruments.
- Develop high fidelity 6 degree of freedom satellite simulations using Python, Matlab or C++.
- Develop entry guidance, entry corridor and reachability analysis, deorbit burn targeting, aerothermal and load-constrained trajectory shaping.
- Develop EKF and UKF with GNSS, IMU, air data, radar or laser altimetry, magnetometers, and optical or terrain-relative sensors; sensor error modeling and calibration; GNSS-denied or degraded navigation, including through plasma blackout.
- Implement control of aerodynamically unstable or marginally stable vehicles, gain scheduling and robust control across wide Mach and dynamic pressure ranges, actuator and effector allocation, autonomous mode sequencing and abort logic.
- Support flight test campaigns at test sites — test planning, instrumentation requirements, real-time support, and flight data reconstruction.
Benefits
- Medical, dental, and vision coverage
- Company-provided short- and long-term disability coverage
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- 9 days of paid holidays
- 401(k) with company match
- Daily DoorDash lunch stipend
- Unlimited snacks, coffee, and tea
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Principal
