Senior Space Guidance, Navigation, and Controls; GNC) Engineer

Position: Senior Space Guidance, Navigation, and Controls (GNC) Engineer
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 by Varda in-house, including the pharmaceutical processing payloads, the capsules, the C-PICA heat shields, and the satellite buses.

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 Senior Space Guidance, Navigation, and Controls (GNC) 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.

You'll 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.  ResponsibilitiesADCS 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 QualificationsB.S. degree in aerospace, mechanical, electrical engineering, physics, or related field5+ proven years of experience, or PhD with 3+ years of relevant experience

Demonstrated knowledge in designing, modeling, testing, and flying aerospace guidance, navigation, and control systems

Highly adept software and model development skills, particularly in C++/Python Understanding of orbital mechanics, modeling and simulation, and software development Experience…