GNC Engineer, ADCS

SpaceX

Confirmed live 2 days ago High trust

Quick summary

Work type: On-site
Location: Hawthorne, CA
Salary: $125,000–$160,000 / yr
Posted: 11 days ago
Freshness: Confirmed live 2 days ago
Nearby: 99+ roles within 25 mi

Market check

Salary context

Below market

How this pay compares to similar roles

Similar $173k

This role $142k

$115k most similar roles pay here $219k

This role pays less than 70% of similar roles. Most pay $137,813–$208,975 — the shaded band above. At the midpoint, this role pays about $142k versus about $173k for comparable roles.

Based on 240 similar postings.

Employer

About SpaceX

SpaceX designs, manufactures, and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft with the mission of enabling humans to become a multi-planetary species. It operates the Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and Starship launch vehicles, as well as the Starlink satellite internet constellation.

SpaceX currently has 680 open roles on FindRole.

Listed pay typically runs $130,000–$165,000 across 442 roles with salary data.

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At a glance

TL;DR · GNC Engineer, ADCS

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GNC Engineer, ADCS (Starshield) joins the Starshield Attitude Determination and Control System team to support government-focused satellite missions involving earth observation, communications, and hosted payloads. The role involves designing and implementing flight software for vehicle autonomy, managing mission concepts that balance thermal constraints, power budgets, and momentum management, and performing high-fidelity 6DOF modeling and simulation of satellite dynamics. Responsibilities include developing onboard GNC algorithms, conducting Monte Carlo analysis to validate performance, and participating in hardware-in-the-loop testing. The candidate will utilize C++, Python, and MATLAB/Simulink to develop navigation filtering and control systems while managing software configurations for various mission sets. Key technical areas include orbital mechanics, spacecraft attitude dynamics, and sensor/actuator hardware sizing. The role addresses the critical challenge of ensuring satellites reliably balance payload pointing needs with system-level constraints across their entire operational timelines.

Skills

GNC C++ Python MATLAB Simulink 6DOF Modeling Monte Carlo Simulation Hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) GNSS Star Trackers Rate Gyros Unit Testing Regression Testing CI/CD Git Linux Confluence Jira

What you'll do

Design and implement satellite GNC software for all mission phases including off-nominal scenarios.
Develop onboard GNC algorithms to achieve high levels of vehicle autonomy and fault tolerance.
Create concepts of operation that balance thermal, power, momentum, and payload requirements.
Perform high-fidelity 6DOF modeling and simulation of satellite dynamics, sensors, and actuators.
Conduct Monte Carlo simulation analysis to validate flight safety and quantify performance.
Execute hardware-in-the-loop testing including test case design and data review automation.
Design and optimize navigation filtering and control systems for spacecraft operations.
Perform hardware sizing and layout activities for ADCS sensors and actuators.

What we're looking for

Bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering, computer science, software engineering, or another engineering discipline.
Experience with attitude determination and state estimation algorithms.
Software development experience using C++, Python, and/or MATLAB/Simulink.
Advanced knowledge of spacecraft attitude and orbit dynamics, navigation filtering, and control systems design.
Ability to perform 6DOF modeling, simulation, and Monte Carlo analysis for satellite dynamics.
Experience with on-orbit operations, including commanding, debugging, and telemetry analysis.
Active Top Secret, Top Secret SCI, or DOE Level Q clearance, or the ability to obtain one.
Must be a U.S. citizen, national, lawful permanent resident, or eligible for export control authorizations.

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