Senior Spacecraft Guidance, Navigation, and Controls (GNC) Engineer
About The Position
Varda is hiring a Senior Spacecraft Guidance, Navigation, and Controls (GNC) Engineer to own the full life cycle of GNC development, from design through unit testing, hardware-in-the-loop testing, on-vehicle functionality, and flight testing. The role performs system analyses, including simulations and Monte Carlo analyses, to satisfy specifications and requirements and inform system-level architectural and business decisions. It also contributes to Varda’s in-house aerospace simulation and test framework and develops and maintains design descriptions and supporting documentation. The engineer supports end-to-end GNC subsystem execution, from initial analysis and design through vehicle integration, mission planning, flight, and support of on-orbit and reentry mission operations. This is an on-site role in El Segundo, California.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in aerospace, mechanical, or electrical engineering, physics, or a related field.
- At least 5 years of proven experience, or a Ph.D. with at least 3 years of relevant experience.
- Demonstrated knowledge of designing, modeling, testing, and flying aerospace guidance, navigation, and control systems.
- Strong software and model development skills, particularly in C++ and Python.
- Understanding of orbital mechanics, modeling and simulation, and software development.
- Experience anchoring or fitting first-principles models to test data or high-fidelity external simulations.
- Proven systems engineering and configuration management skills.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Nice To Haves
- Master’s degree in engineering or physics.
- Experience with spacecraft attitude determination and control system design.
- Experience with GMAT, POST2, or similar tools.
- Understanding of multi-body dynamics, flexible-body dynamics, gas dynamics, fluids, and thermodynamics.
- Experience developing and verifying physical models for control design, component sizing, and system performance evaluation.
- Experience supporting safety-critical flight tests or spacecraft.
- Ability to continuously manage risk and provide solutions using lean, state-of-the-art software development techniques.
Responsibilities
- Specify ADCS hardware performance, including sizing reaction wheels, torque rods, IMU/GPS, and star trackers.
- Design and implement autonomous satellite attitude control, collision avoidance, orbital rendezvous, burn planning, and atmospheric reentry algorithms.
- Perform trajectory design, optimization, and dispersion analysis for space capsule reentry.
- Develop six-degree-of-freedom vehicle simulations using C++, Python, and MATLAB/Simulink.
- Run Monte Carlo analyses to characterize performance of new vehicle and mission capabilities.
- Integrate and test GNC sensors, actuators, and software in a hardware-in-the-loop environment.
- Design and implement ground tooling for fully automated maneuver responsibility and maneuver-scheduling decisions.
- Monitor on-orbit system performance and troubleshoot as necessary.
- Coordinate with other spacecraft operators, third-party agencies, and the U.S. government.
- Contribute to Varda’s in-house aerospace simulation and test framework and maintain design descriptions and supporting documentation.
- Support GNC execution from analysis and design through vehicle integration, mission planning, flight, and on-orbit and reentry operations.
Benefits
- Eligible for long-term incentives in the form of stock options and/or long-term cash awards.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
