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Salary: USD 169,067 - 216,031 / annual
Varda Space Industries is accelerating commercial space infrastructure development, from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable reentry capsules. The company designs, builds, and operates its W-Series vehicles in-house, including pharmaceutical processing payloads, capsules, C-PICA heat shields, and satellite buses. Varda is backed by leading investors including Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, and Founders Fund, with leadership and staff from SpaceX, Blue Origin, and major pharmaceutical companies.
As a Senior Guidance, Navigation, and Controls (GNC) Engineer, you will own the full lifecycle of GNC development at Varda, from initial design through unit testing, hardware-in-the-loop integration, on-vehicle functionality, and flight testing. You will perform comprehensive system analyses including simulations and Monte Carlo studies to satisfy specifications and drive system-level architectural and business decisions. You will contribute to Varda's sophisticated multi-degree-of-freedom in-house aerospace simulation and test framework, develop and maintain design descriptions and supporting documentation, and see end-to-end execution from initial analysis and design through vehicle integration, mission planning, flight operations, and on-orbit and reentry mission support.
Key responsibilities include: ADCS hardware performance specification (reaction wheels, torque rods, IMU/GPS, star trackers); design and implementation of autonomous satellite attitude control, collision avoidance, orbital rendezvous, burn planning, and atmospheric reentry algorithms; trajectory design, optimization, and dispersion analysis for space capsule reentry; development of 6-degree-of-freedom vehicle simulation using C++, Python, and MATLAB/Simulink; Monte Carlo analysis to characterize vehicle and mission performance; integration and testing of GNC sensors, actuators, and software in hardware-in-the-loop environments; design and implementation of ground tooling for automated maneuver responsibility and scheduling; monitoring on-orbit system performance and troubleshooting; and coordination with other spacecraft operators, third-party agencies, and the US government.
Requirements: B.S. degree in aerospace, mechanical, electrical engineering, physics, or related field; 5+ years of proven experience (or PhD with 3+ years of relevant experience); demonstrated knowledge in designing, modeling, testing, and flying aerospace guidance, navigation, and control systems; highly adept software and model development skills, particularly in C++/Python; understanding of orbital mechanics, modeling and simulation, and software development; experience anchoring/fitting first principles models to test data or high-fidelity external simulations; proven system engineering and configuration management skills; excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Preferred qualifications: Master's degree in engineering or physics; experience with spacecraft attitude determination and control system design; experience with GMAT, POST2, or similar tools; understanding of multi-body dynamics, flexible body dynamics, gas dynamics, fluids, and thermodynamics; experience developing and verifying physical models for control design, component sizing, and system performance evaluation; experience supporting safety-critical flight tests or spacecraft; ability to manage risk and provide solutions with lean and state-of-the-art software development techniques.
