Senior Guidance, Navigation, and Controls Engineer (Aerospace)

Location: On-site in El Segundo, California, United States. Relocation support may be available for new hires.

Salary: $170,000–$215,000 per year, plus potential long-term incentives through stock options and/or long-term cash awards.

Company

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

What you will do

• Own the full life cycle of GNC development from analysis and design through unit testing, hardware-in-the-loop testing, vehicle integration, flight testing, and mission operations.
• Specify and size ADCS hardware, including reaction wheels, torque rods, IMUs, GPS systems, and star trackers.
• Design autonomous algorithms for attitude control, collision avoidance, orbital rendezvous, burn planning, and atmospheric reentry.
• Develop six-degree-of-freedom vehicle simulations and perform trajectory optimization, dispersion analysis, and Monte Carlo studies.
• Integrate and test GNC sensors, actuators, and software in hardware-in-the-loop environments.
• Monitor on-orbit performance, troubleshoot issues, develop automated maneuver-planning tools, and coordinate with spacecraft operators, agencies, and the U.S. government.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in aerospace, mechanical, or electrical engineering, physics, or a related field.
• 5+ years of relevant experience, or a PhD with 3+ years of relevant experience.
• Experience designing, modeling, testing, and flying aerospace guidance, navigation, and control systems.
• Strong software and model development skills in C++ and Python, with understanding of orbital mechanics, simulation, and software development.
• Experience fitting first-principles models to test data or high-fidelity external simulations, plus systems engineering and configuration management experience.
• Must be authorized to work in the United States and qualify as a U.S. person for access to export-controlled technology.

Nice to have

• Master’s degree in engineering or physics.
• Spacecraft attitude determination and control system design experience.
• Experience with GMAT, POST2, or similar tools.
• Knowledge of multibody dynamics, flexible body dynamics, gas dynamics, fluids, and thermodynamics.
• Experience supporting safety-critical flight tests or spacecraft.

Culture & Benefits

• Full-time employment with flexible paid time off and 12 paid holidays.
• Company-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance with FSA and employer-matched HSA options.
• Parental leave, family-building and related support programs, and wellness reimbursement.
• 401(k) plan with a 6% employer match, immediately vested.
• Daily lunch, twice-weekly dinner, team events, complimentary EV charging, and relocation support where needed.