Senior GNC Engineer (Aerospace)

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

Salary: $160,000–$205,000 per year, based on experience

Company

hirify.global is an orbital logistics company building reusable Earth-return vehicles for in-space manufacturing, on-orbit warehousing, commercial cargo, research payloads, and rapid global delivery.

What you will do

• Design, analyze, implement, and test guidance, navigation, and control systems for reusable Earth-return vehicles and spacecraft.
• Develop satellite attitude determination and control algorithms, including pointing, orbit raising, station keeping, and autonomous mode sequencing.
• Build high-fidelity six-degree-of-freedom simulations and develop entry guidance, deorbit targeting, reachability analysis, and trajectory shaping.
• Develop EKF and UKF navigation using GNSS, IMU, air data, radar or laser altimetry, magnetometers, and optical or terrain-relative sensors.
• Implement robust control, gain scheduling, actuator allocation, fault management, and abort logic for challenging flight conditions.
• Support hardware-in-the-loop testing and flight campaigns through test planning, instrumentation, real-time operations, 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 knowledge of classical 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, and thruster systems.
• Experience with satellite attitude determination and control and three-axis-stabilized spacecraft.
• Experience with flexible-body control, orbital maneuvering, filtering, fault management, and navigation filtering.

Culture & Benefits

• Annual performance-based bonuses and meaningful 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 lunch stipend, unlimited snacks, coffee, and tea.
• Pet-friendly office with monthly company events and social activities.