GNC Engineer

About the role

Rendezvous Robotics builds electromagnetic self-assembling spacecraft tiles that dock and latch to form larger vehicles, and is seeking a GNC Engineer in Golden, Colorado. The engineer owns guidance, navigation and control across the full lifecycle of the spacecraft, from the individual tiles to the large reconfigurable vehicle they assemble, working with a small multi-disciplinary team.

Key responsibilities

• Develop reliable GNC algorithms, simulations, tools and dashboards in C++ and Python
• Own the vehicle-level guidance, navigation and control architecture and its concept of operations, designing, implementing, tuning and verifying it
• Maintain a 6DOF simulation environment with validated dynamics, actuator, sensor and environment models, used for Monte Carlo verification
• Design rendezvous, proximity and docking guidance, including approach trajectories, capture-rate management and abort/safe-mode logic
• Design navigation and state estimation fusing rate sensors, ToF and vision sensors, magnetometers, GNSS and others, with calibration and fault detection
• Design attitude control and momentum management for de-tumbling, pointing, slewing and desaturation of a reconfigurable structure
• Design electromagnetic and reaction-wheel control that brings tiles together and holds them during capture
• Lead trade studies and sizing for sensors and actuators, and define vehicle-level GNC requirements
• Verify algorithms end to end in simulation, on HITL testbeds and in flight, and support flight operations and on-orbit anomaly investigations

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree in aerospace, mechanical or electrical engineering, physics, mathematics, robotics or another relevant engineering discipline
• Software development experience in C++ and Python
• Preferred: Master's or PhD, and 2+ years (engineer) or 5+ years (senior engineer) of GNC experience in spacecraft or robotics
• Preferred: experience developing a spacecraft GNC subsystem, including ADCS, rendezvous/proximity operations or navigation/orbit determination
• Preferred: embedded and real-time software, and experience taking algorithms from simulation to flight hardware
• Must meet ITAR requirements (U.S. citizen, permanent resident, refugee or asylee, or eligible for authorization)

Required skills

• Strong foundation in dynamics and control, including attitude dynamics, quaternion kinematics, relative orbital motion and nonlinear control
• State estimation: Kalman filtering (EKF/MEKF/UKF), sensor fusion and orbit determination
• Guidance and trajectory design for rendezvous, proximity operations and docking
• Building and validating 6DOF spacecraft simulations and Monte Carlo verification
• Version control such as Git

What we offer

• Salary of $95,000-$140,000 for GNC Engineer and $140,000-$170,000 for Senior GNC Engineer, depending on level, knowledge, education and experience
• Possible long-term incentives in the form of stock options
• Medical, vision and dental coverage, disability insurance, life insurance and paid parental leave
• 3 weeks of paid vacation and 10+ paid holidays per year