Guidance, Navigation & Controls (GNC) Internship - Spring 2027 (Aerospace)

Location: Full-time, on-site internship in Los Angeles, CA; company headquarters and production facility are in El Segundo, California. Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States and qualify as a U.S. person under ITAR requirements.

Hourly rate: $33.00

Company

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

What you will do

• Develop and analyze algorithms and simulations for reentry vehicles.
• Integrate and test GNC sensors, actuators, and software in simulation and hardware-in-the-loop environments.
• Build mission-critical tooling for automated maneuver responsibility and scheduling decisions.
• Design autonomous satellite attitude control, collision avoidance, orbital rendezvous, burn planning, and atmospheric reentry algorithms.
• Perform trajectory design, optimization, and dispersion analysis for space capsule reentry.

Requirements

• Actively enrolled in an accredited undergraduate or graduate degree program.
• Previous GNC internship experience.
• Knowledge of orbital mechanics, flight dynamics, trajectory design and optimization, feedback controls, 6DOF flight simulations, navigation solutions, GNC flight algorithms, and Monte Carlo analysis.
• Familiarity with C++ or Python and modern software development principles.
• U.S. work authorization and U.S. person status required for access to export-controlled technology.

Nice to have

• At least one year of experience on a technical project team such as CubeSat, Rocket Team, AIAA Design-Build-Fly, or Formula SAE.
• Experience with aerospace simulation support tools or GNC tooling.
• Familiarity with navigation filters, sensor and actuator integration, or hardware-in-the-loop simulation.
• Experience with GMAT, POST2, MATLAB/Simulink, or custom orbital simulation frameworks.
• Strong communication and documentation skills.

Culture & Benefits

• Collaborative startup environment with access to experienced aerospace professionals.
• Internship runs between January and May 2027, with dates dependent on the selected student’s university schedule.
• Housing stipend for interns relocating to the area.
• Commuter benefit for local transportation.
• Interns receive a subset of the full-time employee benefits package, which includes health coverage, paid holidays, wellness support, and other workplace benefits.