Senior GNC Engineer

About this role

As a GNC/AOCS Engineer at Spire, you will operate as part of a technical team who maintains responsibility across the full lifecycle of its engineering products. The GNC team interfaces directly with many engineering groups to conduct R&D, design, manufacturing, and operations activities, ultimately ensuring all current and future spacecraft systems satisfy their mission. Ideal candidates will embrace the commercialization of nanosatellite systems and adapt to low-cost, fast-paced systems design, development, and implementation methodologies that set Spire apart from our competition.

In this fast-paced environment, the design to launch cycle is measured in weeks and months, not years! What You'll Do: Technical ownership of current and future spacecraft attitude and orbit control software and hardware. Design, model, analyze, integrate and operate attitude determination/estimation systems for small spacecraft. Develop and utilize spacecraft dynamics and control simulations, including 'hardware-in-the-loop'.

Design, evaluate, select, qualify and implement flight sensors, including magnetometers, sun sensors, inertial measurement devices, infrared sensors, and/or star trackers. Design, evaluate, select, qualify and implement flight actuators, including magnetic torque elements, reaction wheels, and propulsion systems. Be hands-on in laboratory and manufacturing environments during testing, integration, and qualification of flight systems.

Provide support and analysis for on-orbit operations of spacecraft attitude determination and control systems. Work with external contractors, manufacturers, and internal manufacturing staff to improve reliability, yield, performance, and cost of flight systems. Key Skills: Extensive experience with a solid foundation in spacecraft attitude dynamics and control algorithms, with emphasis on practical application of knowledge.

Have experience designing and/or implementing Kalman filters for attitude estimation. Experience with flight sensors for spacecraft attitude determination/estimation. Experience developing software using C/Python. Have experience or familiarity with the Linux development environment. Have experience working with external engineering contractors. Preferred Skills: Experience writing flight software. Experience with C or C++ development for embedded systems.