Job Description

Who We’re Looking For

We need a team of driven individuals who share our passion and are ready to design, develop, and test groundbreaking Earth observation technology. If you thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment and value hard work, teamwork, and kindness, you’ll find a rewarding and purposeful career with us.

The Role: Principal GNC/ACS Engineer

We’re seeking a Principal GNC/ACS Engineer to lead the development of their Guidance, Navigation & Control (GNC) and Attitude Control Systems (ACS) . This role involves everything from single-vehicle mission analysis and constellation deployment strategies to on-orbit calibration, initialization plans, and working with suppliers to meet their requirements.

What You’ll Do

• Develop and implement modern, optimization-based solutions for spacecraft GNC.
• Model and refine low-jitter, fine-pointing image scan maneuvers.
• Create detailed error budgets and line-of-sight simulations to ensure image quality.
• Design vehicle control system instrumentation, avionics, and flight control software.
• Contribute to satellite integration, testing, and remote sensing system development.
• Define flight constraints and guidance parameters to meet mission objectives.
• Analyze and integrate control system components into the overall spacecraft design.
• Identify and mitigate technical, cost, and schedule risks.
• Support real-time and hardware-in-the-loop testing.
• Develop and maintain spacecraft geolocation and image motion budgets.
• Travel to supplier locations as needed.

Ideal Skills & Experience

• 7-12+ years of experience in GNC/ACS.
• 5+ years working on scanning remote sensing control systems.
• Strong expertise in attitude knowledge, control, and pointing stability.
• Familiarity with scanning imaging sensors and vehicle maneuver patterns.
• Experience with Control Moment Gyro (CMG) systems and control law principles.
• Ability to derive structural dynamics requirements from line-of-sight mission objectives.
• Proficiency in quaternion kinematics .
• Expertise in at least one of the following:
• Extended Kalman Filters for real-time and offline attitude/orbit determination.
• Advanced orbit prediction and extrapolation techniques .
• Optimization-based spacecraft GNC solutions .
• Flight control software development for real-time, deterministic embedded systems.

Bonus Skills & Experience

• Experience developing pointing architecture or algorithms for scanning satellites.
• Strong background in supplier collaboration and co-developing software.
• Proficiency in tuning feedback and feed-ahead control algorithms .
• Knowledge of optimal control, MIMO system analysis, and state-space synthesis .
• Experience designing and implementing FIR and discrete-time filters .

? Salary Range: $250,000 - $264,500 per year.

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