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Manager, Guidance, Navigation & Control Engineering Verified today

Sierra Space · Louisville, CO · Space Systems · first seen 2026-09-03
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About the Role

The Manager, Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) Engineering leads technical direction and management of GNC engineering activities for spacecraft, aircraft, and autonomous systems programs. You will balance individual technical contribution with people leadership, serving as the primary GNC lead on assigned programs while supervising engineers across design, analysis, and testing disciplines.

As the primary GNC lead, you are accountable for technical rigor, product quality, and on-time delivery across all GNC deliverables. You will personally lead key analyses, develop control and estimation models, and generate critical program deliverables using GNC simulation and modeling tools such as MATLAB/Simulink. You will direct hardware-in-the-loop testing to develop and verify flight control systems.

You will translate functional GNC plans into operational plans, task-level breakdowns (using tools such as Jira), Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) tasks, long-term plans, and Gantt charts that support program execution as well as internal and external proposals and Statements of Work (SOWs).

You will supervise engineering teams across GNC design, analysis, and testing activities. You will identify, assess, and mitigate technical, schedule, and cost risks across GNC efforts and manage program budgets. You will lead organizational change by implementing new methodologies, tools, and processes to improve team effectiveness. You will communicate complex GNC concepts clearly to diverse stakeholders including engineering teams, program management, and customers, and model company values while holding GNC teams accountable to established standards.

Minimum Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related technical field (or equivalent work experience)
  • Minimum 2 years of relevant guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) engineering management experience through a technical leadership or managerial role
  • Comprehensive knowledge of GNC principles, including control theory, state estimation, sensor fusion, and trajectory optimization for spacecraft, aircraft, or autonomous systems
  • Experience with GNC simulation tools and modeling environments (e.g., MATLAB/Simulink) and hardware-in-the-loop testing for flight control systems development and verification
  • Demonstrated ability to translate GNC functional plans into operational plans, defining procedures and methodologies for control system design, analysis, and verification across multiple projects
  • Ability to balance technical execution with managerial responsibilities
  • Experience supervising engineering teams across GNC design, analysis, and testing activities
  • Strong communication skills for conveying complex GNC concepts to diverse stakeholders
  • Ability to uphold and model company values, including holding GNC teams accountable to standards and expectations
  • Active Top Secret with SCI eligibility U.S. Security Clearance required

Preferred Qualifications

  • Demonstrated experience serving as a primary GNC lead for assigned programs, ensuring technical rigor, quality, and timely product delivery
  • Competence in GNC risk management, including identifying, assessing, and mitigating technical, schedule, and cost risks
  • Experience developing Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) tasks, creating long-term plans and Gantt charts for program execution, and supporting internal and external proposals and Statements of Work (SOWs)
  • Experience managing program budgets
  • Experience leading organizational change, including implementing new methodologies, tools, or processes
  • Experience breaking down multi-person projects into task-level plans using tools such as Jira

Compensation

Pay Range: $167,209.00 to $229,911.25

Your actual base compensation will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on job-related knowledge and skills, education, experience, internal equity and market competitiveness.

Security Clearance Requirement

This position requires an active Top Secret with SCI eligibility U.S. Security Clearance. U.S. Citizenship status is required as this position needs an active U.S. Security Clearance for employment. Non-U.S. Citizens may not be eligible to obtain a security clearance.