GNC Engineer, ADCS (Starshield)

About the Role

SpaceX is developing technologies to enable human life on Mars. As an engineer on the Starshield ADCS GNC team, you will contribute to a high-impact program focused on national security efforts, leveraging Starlink technology. This role is crucial for the long-term flourishing and continuous improvement of the Starshield program.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and implementation of satellite GNC software for all mission concepts of operations, including off-nominal scenarios.
• Design of concepts of operations (CONOPs) balancing thermal constraints, power budgets, momentum management, communication needs, and payload-pointing requirements.
• Design, development, and flight software implementation of onboard GNC algorithms for autonomy and fault tolerance, ensuring adequate navigation and control performance.
• Update and maintain GNC software configurations for satellite design revisions and mission sets.
• High fidelity time domain 6DOF modeling and simulation of satellite dynamics, sensors, actuators, algorithms, and their interactions.
• Monte Carlo simulation analysis to validate flight safety, reliability, and quantify navigation and control performance.
• Heavy involvement in integrated hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) testing, including test case design, data review automation, and modeling fidelity improvements.
• Navigation filtering and control systems design and optimization.
• Spacecraft design activities related to ADCS sensor and actuator hardware sizing and layout.
• Develop, validate, and improve complex sensor, actuator, and dynamics models for 6DOF simulation analysis.
• Maintain robust interfaces with other disciplines and subsystems (e.g., thermal, power, communications) for consistent system-level design.

Requirements & Tech Stack

• Bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering, computer science/software engineering, or an engineering discipline.
• Software development experience in C++, Python, and/or MATLAB/Simulink.
• Experience with attitude determination and/or state estimation algorithms.
• Extremely strong technical fundamentals in spacecraft attitude and orbit dynamics, navigation filtering, and/or control systems design.
• Capable of identifying and solving complex problems with high autonomy.
• Willingness to take on ownership of complex problems and solve them in a multi-disciplinary fashion.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, dynamic engineering environment with a commitment to continuous improvement.
• Experience with Git, Linux, Confluence, and Jira.

Preferred Skills And Experience

• Master's or PhD in aerospace engineering, computer science/software engineering, or an engineering discipline.
• Basic familiarity with the GNC discipline and associated technical fundamentals.
• Demonstrated experience owning, designing, testing, and flying real-world GNC engineering solutions, preferably on space vehicles.
• Experience with on-orbit space vehicle operations, commanding, debugging, and using flight telemetry.
• Familiarity with orbit navigation filtering using GNSS measurements and attitude navigation using star trackers/rate gyros.
• Strong understanding of unit testing, regression testing, and CI/CD in a complex software development environment.
• Familiarity with GNC algorithm unit testing and implementation in flight software.

Additional Requirements

• Able to work extended hours and weekends as needed to support critical path development or critical on-orbit operations.
• Active Top Secret, Top Secret SCI, or DOE Level Q clearance, or the ability to obtain and maintain one.
• An active clearance may provide the opportunity to work on sensitive SpaceX missions and will subject you to pre-employment drug and random drug and alcohol testing.

ITAR Requirements

• To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.