Guidance, Navigation & Control Engineer (GNC)

About Varda

Low Earth orbit is open for business. Varda is accelerating the development of commercial space infrastructure from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable and economical reentry capsules.

From life-saving pharmaceuticals to more powerful fiber optics there is a world of products used on Earth today that can only be manufactured in space. Varda is accelerating innovation in the orbital economy by creating both the products and infrastructure needed so space can directly benefit life on Earth. Our mission is to expand the economic bounds of humankind.

Our team is uniquely suited to accomplishing this goal with leadership and staff comprised of veterans from SpaceX Blue Origin major pharmaceutical companies and Silicon Valley. Varda was founded in January 2021 by Will Bruey and Delian Asparouhov with significant backing from world class investors including Khosla Ventures Lux Capital Founders Fund Caffeinated Capital General Catalyst and Also Capital.

Varda is headquartered in El Segundo California where we have offices and a production facility where our vehicles equipment and materials are built integrated and tested. Varda also has offices in Washington DC and Huntsville AL.

Join Varda and work to create a bustling in-space ecosystem.

About This Role

As a Guidance Navigation and Controls Engineer 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 perform system analyses including simulations and Monte Carlo to satisfy specifications and requirements and to drive system-level architectural and business decisions. You will contribute to a sophisticated multi-degree of freedom in-house aerospace simulation and test framework and develop and maintain design descriptions and supporting documentation. Youll see end to end execution of the GNC subsystem from initial analysis/design through vehicle integration mission planning and flight through support of on-orbit and reentry mission operations.

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 the reentry of a space capsule
• Develop 6 degree of freedom vehicle simulation using C Python and MATLAB/Simulink
• Running 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
• 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
• 2 proven years of experience or PhD with 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
• 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

• Masters 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

Pay Range

• Salary range: $125000 - $155000/per year.
• This role ison-sitein El Segundo CA
• Leveling and base salary is determined by job-related skills education level experience level and job performance
• You will be eligible for long-term incentives in the form of stock options and/or long-term cash awards

• Varda like all employers must ensure that its employees working in the United States are lawfully authorized to work in the U.S. Additionally our employees are exposed to and have access to certain export-controlled items. At present some of our technology to which employees have access requires a license to be exported to individuals other than U.S. Persons as defined in U.S. export regulations. Because our employees are provided access to export-controlled items our current policy is to only hire U.S. persons who are permitted to have access to our technology without an export license.

  US person means: U.S. citizen U.S. lawful permanent resident or protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3) (i.e. individual admitted to the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum in the U.S.)

  Learn more about the ITAR here.

Benefits