Senior Controls Engineer – Electro-mechanical Products

Blue Origin • Longmont, CO

2d

About The Position

At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We’re working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight! The role is part of the In-Space Systems business unit, which is focused on addressing two of the most compelling challenges in spaceflight today: space infrastructure and increasing mobility on-orbit. Role Overview BNS Core Systems and Components is seeking a highly experienced Senior Controls Engineer to lead the architecture, development, integration, and qualification of spacecraft attitude-control actuators and momentum-management systems. This role will focus on Reaction Wheel Assemblies (RWAs), associated motor-control electronics, embedded flight software, FPGA development, and control algorithms. The ideal candidate brings 15+ years of direct experience developing reaction wheel systems for aerospace applications, with deep technical expertise spanning controls modeling and implementation, electric motor drives, embedded systems, and hardware/software integration. This engineer will serve as a technical leader across the full product lifecycle, from concept development through flight qualification, production, and on-orbit support.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• 15+ years of direct experience designing, developing, testing, and deploying Reaction Wheel Assemblies , reaction wheel control systems, or closely related spacecraft actuator systems.
• Demonstrated experience developing control algorithms and real-time control systems for precision electromechanical systems.
• Extensive motor-control experience, including three-phase PMSM or BLDC drives, field-oriented control, space-vector PWM, current/torque control, and speed-control loops.
• Experience designing and implementing embedded control systems, including hardware/software partitioning, processor selection, timing architecture, and real-time execution.
• Experience with FPGA-based controls implementation and development workflows.
• Proficiency in C and/or C++ for embedded applications.
• Experience with MATLAB/Simulink for controls modeling, simulation, analysis, and/or embedded code generation.
• Experience with embedded processors, DSPs, microcontrollers, and/or FPGA platforms such as TI DSP, ARM, Xilinx, MicroBlaze, Microsemi, or equivalent.
• Experience with real-time operating systems, schedulers, or deterministic embedded architectures, such as VxWorks, Green Hills, or custom bare-metal/scheduler-based systems.
• Experience implementing embedded-system fundamentals, including serial communications, memory and peripheral management, timers, counters, watchdogs, bootloaders, and hardware bring-up.
• Ability to read and interpret electrical schematics, wiring diagrams, and mechanical drawings.
• Hands-on laboratory experience with oscilloscopes, logic/protocol analyzers, power supplies, signal generators, embedded debug tools, and electromechanical assembly/test equipment.

Nice To Haves

• Advanced degree in Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Controls, Robotics, or a related discipline.
• Experience developing small-satellite or spacecraft attitude-control hardware.
• Experience with control moment systems, including multi-axis control, gimbal/motor control, momentum management, and primary/secondary system configurations.
• Experience developing flight software applications, including system management, mode control, communications, bootloaders, and scheduling.
• Experience with VHDL and/or Verilog for production FPGA development.
• Experience designing systems that meet aerospace environmental, reliability, safety, and qualification requirements.
• Experience leading integrated hardware, FPGA, and flight-software teams through aggressive development and test schedules.
• Experience with spacecraft GNC interfaces, attitude-control system architecture, and momentum-management strategies.
• Familiarity with production embedded systems and design-for-manufacturability principles.
• Demonstrated technical mentorship and leadership experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead the system architecture, requirements development, design, implementation, integration, test, and qualification of reaction wheels and momentum-control systems.
• Develop and mature control algorithms for reaction wheel applications, including speed, torque/current, momentum management, fault detection, and safe-mode behaviors.
• Design motor-control solutions for spacecraft actuators, including PMSM/BLDC motors, field-oriented control, space-vector PWM, commutation, current control, and speed-control loops.
• Develop real-time embedded control architectures, including functional decomposition, hardware selection, processor/FPGA partitioning, timing analysis, and software-layer definition.
• Oversee FPGA design and implementation activities for motor-control and actuator systems, including multi-axis or time-division multiplexed control architectures.
• Lead embedded flight software development, including bootloaders, scheduling, system management, mode control, command/telemetry interfaces, and health monitoring.
• Define and implement Fault Detection, Isolation, and Recovery (FDIR) strategies for actuator electronics and software.
• Perform dynamic-system modeling, controls analysis, simulation, and validation using tools such as MATLAB/Simulink and real-time simulation environments.
• Lead integration and test of motors, sensors, power electronics, FPGA firmware, embedded software, and mechanical assemblies.
• Develop verification approaches, test procedures, and data-analysis methods for component- and system-level testing.
• Oversee electrical, mechanical, GNC, systems engineering, manufacturing, reliability, and mission teams to deliver robust, producible flight hardware.
• Provide technical mentorship, design leadership, and review support for engineers across controls, FPGA, and embedded software disciplines.
• Support anomaly resolution, root-cause investigations, and continuous improvements for development and operational systems.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability, 401(k) with a company match of up to 5%, and an Education Support Program.
• Stock Options for all regular employees (working at least 20 hours/week)
• Paid Time Off: Up to four (4) weeks per year based on weekly scheduled hours, and up to 14 company-paid holidays.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior