Senior GNC Engineer
Vardaspace · El Segundo, California, United States
About this role
**Senior GNC Engineer — Varda** ## 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. Varda’s W-Series vehicles are built, designed, and operated in-house, including pharmaceutical processing payloads, reentry capsules, C-PICA heat shields, and satellite buses. Varda is headquartered in El Segundo, California, with additional offices in Washington, DC and Huntsville, AL. ## About This Role As a **Senior GNC Engineer**, you will own the full life cycle of GNC development at Varda—from design through unit development, 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’ll contribute to a sophisticated multi-degree-of-freedom in-house aerospace simulation and test framework, and develop and maintain design descriptions and supporting documentation. You’ll see end-to-end execution of the GNC subsystem—from initial analysis/design through vehicle integration, mission planning, flight, and 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 - Trajectory design, optimization, and dispersion analysis for reentry of a space capsule - Develop 6 degree-of-freedom vehicle simulation using C++, Python, and MATLAB/Simulink - Run Monte Carlo analyses to characterize performance of new vehicle and mission capabilities - Integrate and test GNC sensors, actuators, and software in a hardware-in-the-loop environment - Design and implement ground tooling to enable fully automated maneuver responsibility and maneuver scheduling decisions - Monitor on-orbit system performance and troubleshoot as needed - Coordinate with other spacecraft operators, 3rd party agencies, and the US government ## Basic Qualifications - B.S. in aerospace, mechanical, electrical engineering, physics, or related field - 5+ proven years of experience, or PhD with 3+ years of relevant experience - Demonstrated knowledge designing, modeling, testing, and flying aerospace guidance, navigation, and control systems - Strong software/model development skills, especially 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 - M.S. 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 continuously manage risk and provide solutions using
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