Principal GNC Engineer (Aerospace)

Location: Playa Vista, California; in-person, five days per week

Salary: $190,000–$225,000 annually, based on experience

Company

hirify.global is an orbital logistics company developing reusable Earth-return vehicles for in-space manufacturing, on-orbit warehousing, commercial cargo, national security missions, research payloads, and precision delivery.

What you will do

• Design, analyze, implement, and test guidance, navigation, control, and satellite attitude determination and control algorithms.
• Develop entry guidance, entry corridor and reachability analyses, deorbit burn targeting, trajectory shaping, and precision landing systems.
• Develop EKF and UKF navigation solutions using GNSS, IMU, air data, radar or laser altimetry, magnetometers, and optical or terrain-relative sensors.
• Build high-fidelity six-degree-of-freedom satellite simulations using Python, MATLAB, or C++.
• Implement flight controls for unstable or marginally stable vehicles, including gain scheduling, robust control, actuator allocation, autonomous sequencing, and abort logic.
• Support hardware-in-the-loop testing, drop tests, flight test planning, real-time operations, instrumentation, and flight data reconstruction.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a related technical discipline with 5+ years of GNC or controls experience, or an advanced degree with 3+ years of relevant experience.
• Software development experience in C++ and Python.
• Experience with Git, Jira, and CI pipelines.
• Experience implementing algorithms on real hardware, such as Extended Kalman Filters and LQR.
• Strong understanding of dynamics, modeling and simulation, and classical and modern control.
• Must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, protected individual, or eligible to obtain the required U.S. Department of State authorizations.

Nice to have

• Experience with optimal control for burn planning, satellite maneuvering, thruster systems, and three-axis stabilized spacecraft.
• Experience with flexible-body control, orbital maneuvering, filtering, fault management, and navigation filtering.
• Experience with reaction wheel and torque rod sizing, sensor calibration, redundancy, and fault management.

Culture & Benefits

• Annual performance-based bonuses and meaningful company equity.
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage, plus short- and long-term disability and life insurance.
• Paid time off, nine paid holidays, and a 401(k) with company match.
• Daily DoorDash lunch stipend, unlimited snacks, coffee, and tea.
• Pet-friendly office, monthly company events, and collaboration with aerospace, new space, and deep-tech leaders.