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EON is building a high-throughput point-to-point data transport network in space using free-space laser links in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) to move petabytes of data between any two points on Earth. The company recently closed a $10.75M seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst, and operates from its R&D center in Culver City.
The GNC (Guidance, Navigation, and Control) Engineer role focuses on the pointing chain that enables EON's platform to locate and maintain laser links with precision. The role spans three primary concentrations:
1. Pointing, Acquisition, and Tracking (PAT): Own the platform-side acquisition strategy and sequence, from open-loop pointing through scan-and-stare search, detection, and coarse tracking. Define acquisition timelines and probability budgets, validated in simulation before flight. Ideal background includes acquisition sequence design or closed-loop coarse tracking for line-of-sight systems like lasercom or optical crosslinks.
2. Flight Dynamics & Navigation: Own platform pointing and how it achieves that pointing—orbit, ephemeris, body-pointing error budgets, and the pointing solution feeding the acquisition sequence. Requires orbit/ephemeris, pointing-geometry, and attitude expertise with ownership of body-pointing error budgets.
3. Simulation & Performance: Own the 6-DOF simulation environment, orbit and relative geometry, sensor/actuator models, atmospheric channel effects, and Monte Carlo campaigns validating link closure. Build frameworks that other engineers design and validate against, including hardware-in-the-loop paths.
Responsibilities include owning a distinct piece of the pointing chain from concept through first light, building and defending error budgets, modeling and simulating platform dynamics, defining interfaces with bus vendors and lasercom teams, identifying and retiring high-risk assumptions early, and setting technical direction with incomplete data.
Basic qualifications: degree in aerospace engineering, electrical engineering, physics, computer science, or related field; fundamentals across GNC (attitude determination/control, orbit/ephemeris, pointing); programming proficiency (Python, MATLAB/Simulink, or similar); comfort moving fast with incomplete data.
Preferred experience includes lasercom or optical pointing, spacecraft ADCS, orbit determination, acquisition sequence design, 6-DOF/Monte Carlo/hardware-in-the-loop simulation, Kalman filtering or sensor fusion, and familiarity with astrodynamics tools (STK, GMAT, FreeFlyer, Basilisk).
The company hires at all levels from Associate through Senior and Principal, calibrating title, scope, and compensation to experience. This is a seed-stage role with no program office or requirements team—you own your piece, defend your calls, and build the simulations the team depends on.
