Senior Space Guidance, Navigation, and Controls (GNC) Engineer Verified today
About Varda
Varda is building commercial space infrastructure for in-orbit pharmaceutical processing and reliable reentry capsules. The W-Series vehicles are designed, built and operated in-house, including heat shields, satellite buses and processing payloads. Headquartered in El Segundo, California with offices in Washington, DC and Huntsville, AL.
The Role
You will own the full life cycle of GNC development from design through unit testing, hardware-in-the-loop, on-vehicle functionality and flight testing. You'll perform system analyses including simulations and Monte Carlo studies to satisfy specifications and drive architectural decisions. You'll see end-to-end execution of the GNC subsystem from initial analysis through vehicle integration, mission planning, flight and on-orbit operations support.
Your 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 reentry algorithms
- Perform trajectory design, optimization and dispersion analysis for space capsule reentry
- 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 for automated maneuver planning and scheduling
- Monitor on-orbit system performance and troubleshoot issues
- Coordinate with other spacecraft operators, third-party agencies and the US government
Required Qualifications
- B.S. in aerospace, mechanical, electrical engineering, physics or related field
- 5+ years proven experience, or PhD with 3+ years 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, simulation and software development
- Experience anchoring and fitting first principles models to test data or high-fidelity simulations
- Proven system engineering and configuration management skills
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
Preferred Qualifications
- 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 manage risk and provide solutions with lean and state-of-the-art software development techniques
Compensation and Location
- Salary: $169,067 to $216,031 per year
- On-site in El Segundo, California
- Eligible for stock options and long-term cash awards
- Base salary determined by job-related skills, education, experience and performance
ITAR Requirements
You must be a U.S. person authorized to work in the United States. "U.S. person" means U.S. citizen, U.S. lawful permanent resident, or protected individual admitted as a refugee or granted asylum. Varda employees have access to export-controlled items and the company only hires U.S. persons permitted to access this technology without an export license.