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Salary: USD 161,000 - 230,000 / annual
Inversion Space is an aerospace and defense company pioneering advanced reentry technology. The company's spacecraft, Arc, is designed for rapid global cargo delivery, hypersonic testing, and national security missions requiring precise, controlled atmospheric flight. Inversion designs, manufactures, and integrates its spacecraft in-house, enabling rapid iteration from concept to flight. The company is backed by Y Combinator, Spark Capital, and Lockheed Martin Ventures.
As Head of Accurate Landing, you will report directly to the Chief Engineer of Arc and lead the creation, design, and technical leadership of Inversion's autonomous precision landing capability. You will own the complete technical development of the landing system, including software stack, sensor and electrical design, guidance/navigation/control (GNC) systems, and parachute and recovery hardware from conceptual design through continuous testing and deployment on production vehicles.
Key responsibilities include:
- Leading the Accurate Landing organization, including mechanical, GNC, avionics, software, systems, and test engineers
- Owning the technical architecture and delivery of Arc's recoverable landing system
- Delivering the landing system from requirements and architecture through development, qualification, vehicle integration, flight readiness, and recovery operations
- Owning the Drop Test Vehicle roadmap and ground and aerial test campaigns to mature parachutes, mechanisms, avionics, software, range safety, and field operations
- Establishing verification strategy, qualification plans, flight-readiness criteria, and technical margins for the complete landing sequence
- Leading system-level trades across landing accuracy, deployment reliability, structural loads, descent rate, mass, power, volume, operability, and schedule
- Building and developing the Accurate Landing team through hiring, organizational design, performance management, succession planning, and development of future technical and people leaders
- Creating a culture of disciplined test execution, operational safety, technical rigor, and rapid learning
REQUIREMENTS:
- Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent technical experience
- Typically 10+ years of hands-on experience in complex vehicle development, hardware integration, and environmental testing
- Typically 3+ years of engineering leadership experience, including responsibility for multidisciplinary teams and technical delivery
- Demonstrated ownership of a complex system through design, integration, qualification, and flight or field operations
- ITAR compliance: Must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State
