Senior Space Guidance, Navigation, and Controls (GNC) Engineer Verified today

About Varda

Varda accelerates commercial space infrastructure development, from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable and economical reentry capsules. Varda's W-Series vehicles are built, designed, and operated in-house, including pharmaceutical processing payloads, capsules, C-PICA heat shields, and satellite buses.

About This Role

You will own the full life cycle of GNC development at Varda, from design through unit, hardware-in-the-loop, on-vehicle functionality, and flight testing. You'll perform system analyses including simulations and Monte Carlo to satisfy specifications and drive system-level architectural and business decisions. You'll contribute to Varda's sophisticated multi-degree of freedom in-house aerospace simulation and test framework, develop and maintain design descriptions and supporting documentation, and execute end-to-end GNC subsystem work from initial analysis through vehicle integration, mission planning, flight operations, and on-orbit and reentry mission support.

Responsibilities

• ADCS hardware performance specification including sizing of reaction wheels, torque rods, IMU/GPS, and star trackers
• Design and implementation of autonomous satellite attitude control, collision avoidance, orbital rendezvous, burn planning and atmospheric re-entry algorithms
• Perform trajectory design, optimization, and dispersion analysis for reentry of a space capsule
• Develop 6 degree of freedom vehicle simulation using C++, Python and MATLAB/Simulink
• Run Monte Carlo analysis to characterize performance of new vehicle and mission capabilities
• Integration and testing of GNC sensors, actuators, and software in hardware-in-the-loop environment
• Design and implementation of ground tooling necessary to facilitate fully automated maneuver responsibility and maneuver scheduling decisions
• Monitor on-orbit system performance and troubleshoot where necessary
• Coordinate with other spacecraft operators, 3rd party agencies, and the US government

Basic Qualifications

• B.S. degree in aerospace, mechanical, electrical engineering, physics, or related field
• 5+ proven years of experience, or PhD with 3+ years of relevant experience
• Demonstrated knowledge in designing, modeling, testing, and flying aerospace guidance, navigation, and control systems
• Highly adept software and model development skills, particularly in C++/Python
• Understanding of orbital mechanics, modeling and simulation, and software development
• Experience anchoring/fitting first principles models to test data or high-fidelity external simulations
• Proven system engineering and configuration management skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

Preferred Skills and Experience

• 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 the purpose of control design, component sizing, and system performance evaluation
• Experience supporting safety critical flight tests or spacecraft
• Ability to continuously manage risk and provide solutions with lean and state of the art software development techniques

Compensation and Location

• Salary range: $169,067 to $216,031 per year
• Onsite in El Segundo, CA
• Base salary determined by job-related skills, education, experience level, and job performance
• Eligible for long-term incentives in the form of stock options and/or long-term cash awards

Employment Requirements

This position requires US person status as defined by export control regulations (8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)). US person means: U.S. citizen, U.S. lawful permanent resident, or individual admitted to the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum. Varda participates in the E-Verify employment eligibility verification program.