Principal GNC Engineer (Aerospace)

Location: Hawthorne, California, United States; Workplace type: Hybrid

Salary: $180,000–$235,000 per year

Company

hirify.global designs, builds, and operates multi-purpose commercial planetary rovers for exploration and operations on distant planetary bodies.

What you will do

• Lead the design, verification, validation, testing, and characterization of GNC and perception systems for manual, semi-autonomous, and autonomous rover operations.
• Define technical direction and system architecture across guidance, navigation, control, perception, avionics, and software.
• Manage and mentor GNC and perception engineers while driving execution of complex technical programs.
• Select, test, characterize, and calibrate sensors with avionics engineers.
• Prototype and analyze GNC algorithms in vehicle simulation, software test environments, laboratories, and analog platforms.
• Support flight software implementation and rover operations while ensuring safety, reliability, fault tolerance, and performance under embedded compute constraints.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a STEM-related field.
• Experience developing GNC, perception, or autonomy systems for autonomous vehicles or robotic platforms.
• Experience developing GNC software using C++.
• Experience leading engineering teams and delivering complex technical programs.
• Experience across system architecture, implementation, integration, testing, and operations.
• Experience with sensor integration, localization, navigation, path planning, and verification and validation testing for autonomy or navigation systems.

Nice to have

• Master’s degree or Ph.D. in aerospace engineering, robotics, computer science, electrical engineering, or a related field.
• 10+ years of experience in GNC, perception, and autonomy systems.
• Experience with space vehicles, extraterrestrial rovers, aerospace applications, or embedded systems with compute and power constraints.
• Experience with image processing, multi-sensor odometry, terrain-relative navigation, pose estimation, hazard detection, terrain mapping, route planning, or Monte Carlo analysis.
• Experience with flight hardware, embedded platforms, or NASA and other aerospace mission assurance standards.

Culture & Benefits

• Equity ownership in the company.
• Medical, dental, vision, and mental health benefits.
• 401(k) plan with company match.
• Flexible paid time off and parental leave.
• Home office setup reimbursement, weekly lunch stipend, and on-site snacks and beverages.
• Inclusive culture focused on trust, balance, diverse perspectives, purposeful execution, and impact.

Hiring process

• Application review and recruiter phone interview.
• Video interviews followed by an on-site interview.
• Offer and hiring decision.