Senior GNC Engineer (Navigation)

About the role

Rendezvous Robotics builds electromagnetic self-assembling spacecraft tiles that dock and latch together, and is looking for a Senior GNC Engineer focused on navigation. The engineer owns the relative-state estimation that enables electromagnetic docking: defining the navigation accuracy budget, designing and tuning the filter that delivers relative ranging and bearing from the tile sensors, proving it through analysis and simulation, and implementing it in onboard flight software. The role also supports absolute navigation of the assembled spacecraft once docked.

Key responsibilities

• Develop reliable, performant state estimation, navigation algorithms, simulations, tools and dashboards in C++ and Python
• Own relative-state estimation for proximity operations and docking: design, implement, tune and verify filters (EKF, UKF, etc.)
• Deliver relative pose and position information at the range-dependent requirements needed for closed-loop stability
• Derive measurement models from first principles for relative ranging and bearing from the tile sensor suite
• Define and own the perception interfaces to navigation
• Verify estimator performance and robustness with hardware-in-the-loop experiments
• Support flight operations, monitor on-orbit health and performance, lead on-orbit anomaly investigations and drive on-orbit reliability of navigation algorithms
• Secondarily support development of navigation algorithms for the assembled spacecraft

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree in aerospace or electrical engineering, physics, mathematics or another relevant engineering discipline
• Software development experience in C++ and Python
• Preferred: Master's or PhD and 5+ years of professional GNC or state-estimation experience
• Ability to solve complex problems with little supervision in a fast-paced startup environment

Required skills

• State estimation and sensor fusion, including Kalman filtering, filter tuning and covariance analysis
• Electromagnetic systems, orbital mechanics and high-fidelity orbit propagation
• Measurement processing, sensor calibration, image processing and optical observations
• Data analysis, including statistical tests such as chi-squared and Kolmogorov-Smirnov
• Version control (Git)

What we offer

• Salary of $145,000 to $190,000, depending on 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 or more paid holidays per year