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Senior Controls Engineer (PAT)

Impulse Space

Job Location:

Redondo Beach, CA - USA

Yearly Salary: USD 150000 - 180000

Posted: 12 June 2026 (30+ days ago)

Application Deadline: 26 October 2026

Vacancies: 1 Vacancy

Job Summary

As a Senior Acquisition Tracking & Pointing Controls Engineer you will lead the development of the pointing and tracking subsystem for our FSO laser communication terminal. You will design the algorithms and controls (both software and hardware). This role blends optics sensors and control theory.

This role is on-site and will interface heavily with the optical photonics and modem teams to ensure an integrated design.

Responsibilities

Own the end-to-end pointing acquisition and tracking (PAT) architecture for the FSO system to achieve sub-µrad pointing stability; develop pointing budgets that account for spacecraft attitude dynamics thermal drift and atmospheric disturbance and allocate error to subsystems.
Design and implement algorithms to rapidly acquire transmitter and maintain lock.
Develop the control loops for fast steering mirrors (FSM) or precision actuators to actively suppress jitter and beam wander. Tune controllers to mitigate disturbances and minimize pointing error.
Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) Testing: Build a testbed to validate PAT performance including hardware-in-loop simulations.
Rapidly prototype algorithms and simulations to flesh out design
Support troubleshooting and iteration during optical alignment sessions and system tests.

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelors or Masters in Aerospace Engineering Controls/Electrical Engineering Applied Physics or similar field.
5 years of experience working on pointing tracking or guidance/control systems (such as satellite attitude control gimbal systems or optical tracking systems).
Strong foundation in control theory and signal processing. Experience designing and tuning feedback control loops for high-precision systems.
Knowledge of sensor fusion and state estimation.
Understanding of optical pointing mechanisms pointing errors and jitter spectra.
Experience with gimbals fast steering mirrors precision opto-mechanical actuators or similar hardware.
Proficiency in programming for algorithm development and real-time implementation.
Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot complex hardware/software systems in a lab or field environment.

Preferred Skills and Experience

Spacecraft GNC: Direct experience with spacecraft attitude determination and control systems or optical payload pointing. Familiarity with how satellite attitude control systems interact with a high-precision payload pointing system.
Experience working on free-space optical communication pointing/tracking systems or telescopes; e.g. previous development of PAT for laser communications optical telescopes for imaging satellites or line-of-sight stabilization for airborne lasers.
Exposure to adaptive optics systems or tip-tilt correction in telescopes enabling high-frequency correction of beam pointing.
Experience with low-latency hardware implementations of control loops; e.g. using FPGAs DSPs or real-time operating systems to achieve control loop frequencies in the kHz range. Familiarity with FPGA development toolchains for implementing high-speed tracking algorithms.
Aerospace-environment experience is preferred; e.g. designing control systems or sensors that flew on spacecraft or aircraft.
Hands-on experience with implementing control algorithms in embedded systems or FPGAs.
Experience setting up experiments and test platforms for control systems (motion platforms optical setups etc.).

Additional Information:

Compensation bands are determined by role level location and alignment with market data. Individual level and base pay is determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on job-related skills education experience technical capabilities and internal addition to base salary for full-time hires you may also be eligible for long-term incentives in the form of stock options and access to medical vision & dental coverage as well as access to a 401(k) retirement plan.

Impulse Spaces spacecraft manufacturing business is subject to U.S. export regulations including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR). This position requires applicants to be either U.S. Persons (i.e. U.S. citizen U.S. national lawful permanent U.S. resident (green card holder) an individual granted asylum in the U.S. or an individual admitted in U.S. refugee status) or persons eligible to obtain an export license from the U.S. Departments of State Commerce or other applicable U.S. government agencies. Learn more about the ITAR here.

Impulse Space is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Impulse Space is governed on the basis of merit competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race color religion gender national origin/ethnicity veteran status disability status age sexual orientation gender identity marital status mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

Required Experience:

Senior IC

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