Automation & Controls Engineer II (Aerospace)

Location: On-site in El Segundo, California, United States. U.S. person status is required for access to export-controlled technology.

Salary: $119,543–$152,749 per year, plus eligibility for stock options and/or long-term cash awards.

Company

hirify.global develops commercial space infrastructure, including in-orbit pharmaceutical processing payloads, reentry capsules, heat shields, satellite buses, and related production and test systems.

What you will do

• Design, build, maintain, and commission test systems and ground support equipment for flight hardware qualification and manufacturing operations.
• Integrate thermal vacuum chambers, ovens, chillers, pressure systems, data acquisition hardware, precision instrumentation, and other external equipment.
• Develop and extend the internal PLC framework and EtherCAT tooling.
• Contribute to real-time control architecture decisions, including PLC-based TwinCAT 3 and Linux-based approaches.
• Design electrical systems, build cabinets, wire panels, debug hardware, and develop control software end to end.
• Partner with propulsion, avionics, GNC, and manufacturing teams while establishing sustainable engineering practices for reliable system maintenance and onboarding.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related technical field.
• At least 2 years of industry experience in test automation, controls, and/or industrial automation.
• Hands-on experience integrating industrial hardware through EtherCAT, Modbus TCP/RTU, RS-232/485 serial, or similar protocols.
• Experience with at least one modern PLC ecosystem, ideally Beckhoff TwinCAT 3 with structured text under IEC 61131-3, or demonstrated eagerness to develop deep expertise in it.
• Experience across the full stack of controls engineering, including electrical panel design, cabinet wiring, hardware debugging, and control software development.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced startup environment with shifting priorities and end-to-end ownership of problems.

Nice to have

• Strong judgment when selecting real-time PLC code versus higher-level Python orchestration, including understanding of the tradeoffs.
• Experience with custom or in-house control frameworks.
• Advanced EtherCAT expertise, including DC synchronization, ENI configuration, master implementation, or driver-level work.
• Production experience with TwinCAT 3, structured text, and the broader IEC 61131-3 language suite.
• Experience designing deterministic hard real-time control loops with sub-millisecond cycle times.
• Familiarity with time-series data acquisition and visualization tools such as Grafana or InfluxDB.
• Aerospace experience, particularly spacecraft testing or GSE development; environmental testing experience with TVAC, thermal cycling, or vibration testing.
• Hands-on experience with high-pressure gas or fluid systems, propulsion test stands, or complex multi-subsystem test infrastructure.
• Familiarity with spacecraft qualification standards and related documentation requirements.
• Experience developing safety-related control systems and evaluating solutions to reduce safety-related risks.

Culture & Benefits

• Work in a fast-paced startup environment with ownership of systems from design through commissioning.
• Collaborate with propulsion, avionics, GNC, manufacturing, and other engineering teams.
• Contribute to architecture decisions and define engineering standards for future programs.
• Eligibility for stock options and/or long-term cash awards.
• Employment is subject to U.S. work authorization and U.S. person requirements for export-controlled technology.