GNC Engineer, Starlink Controls (Starlink)

About the Role

SpaceX is developing Starlink, the world’s largest satellite constellation, to provide fast, reliable internet. As a control systems engineer on the Starlink Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) team, you will apply expertise in dynamics and closed-loop controls to achieve robust and precise pointing for satellites, payloads, propulsion systems, and mechanisms. This role involves vehicle design trades, simulation, flight code implementation, and deploying/operating features in space.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, analysis, and implementation of electromechanical control systems (e.g., solar array actuators, antenna gimbals, active optics).
• Design, analysis, and implementation of satellite attitude control and momentum management systems.
• Design, analysis, and implementation of fluid and power system controls for Starlink hall thrusters.
• Optimal state estimation for mechanical alignment and attitude determination.
• Hardware performance specification and sizing; support for hardware iteration, firmware bring-up, design qualification, automated production screening, and fleet performance monitoring.
• Development and maintenance of high-fidelity simulations using C++, Python, and MATLAB; integration of simulations into collaborative analysis tools.
• Implementation, validation, unit testing, and deployment of production software (C++) for the described systems.
• Engineering and data review support for hardware development and network-level performance monitoring.

Requirements & Tech Stack

• Bachelor's degree in aerospace, physics, or an engineering discipline.
• Software development experience in C++.
• Experience with design and analysis of closed-loop control systems.
• Embedded C++ expertise, ideally in the context of electromechanical control systems firmware.
• Strong understanding of classical rigid body dynamics, orbital mechanics, and their modeling/simulation.
• Capable of identifying and solving complex problems in a self-directed manner.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Master's degree or PhD in physics or an engineering discipline.
• Very strong expertise and demonstrated project or professional experience in linear closed-loop controls analysis and design, including state space and frequency domain methods.
• Experience with flexible body dynamics and reduced finite element models thereof in the context of closed-loop control systems analysis.
• Expertise in state estimation, Kalman filters, information filters, etc.
• Direct experience with spacecraft operations and flight software development, testing, and deployment.
• Passion for advancing the commercial space industry.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, autonomously driven, and demanding start-up atmosphere.

Additional Requirements

• Willingness to work extended hours and weekends as needed.