About This Role

As a Varda Guidance, Navigation, and Control Engineer you will optimize our existing GNC software to improve reliability, enable capabilities, and reduce operating cost. You will also perform system analyses, including simulations and Monte Carlo, to satisfy specifications and requirements and to drive system-level architectural decisions. You will own the full life cycle of GNC development at Varda, from design through to unit, hardware-in-the-loop, on-vehicle functionality, and flight testing. You will contribute to a sophisticated multi-degree of freedom aerospace simulation and test framework and develop and maintain design descriptions and supporting documentation.

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, and atmospheric re-entry algorithms
• Perform trajectory design, optimization, and dispersion analysis for the reentry of a space capsule
• Develop 6 degree of freedom vehicle simulation using MATLAB/Simulink
• Running Monte Carlo analysis to characterize performance of new features
• Integration and testing of GNC sensors, actuators, and software in the hardware-in-the-loop environment
• Design and implementation of ground services necessary to facilitate fully automated maneuver responsibility and maneuver scheduling decisions
• Monitoring on-orbit system performance; troubleshooting where necessary
• Coordination 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
• 3+ proven years of experience, or PhD with 2+ years of relevant experience
• Demonstrated knowledge in designing, modeling, testing, and flying aerospace guidance, navigation, and control systems
• Strong software and model development skills, particularly in C++/Python/MATLAB/Simulink
• 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
• 2+ years of experience with spacecraft attitude determination and control system design
• Experience with AGI STK, FreeFlyer, 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 flight test or flying spacecraft
• Ability to continuously manage risk and provide solutions with lean software development techniques