GNC Engineer, Attitude Determination and Optical Navigation (Starlink)

The role

This person will maintain and upgrade attitude determination systems on Starlink satellites. They will also contribute to sensor development and improve object tracking within the Stargaze space surveillance system.

What you will do

• Maintain, upgrade, and operate the attitude determination systems onboard Starlink satellites.
• Maintain, upgrade, and operate the object detection pipeline supporting the Stargaze space surveillance system.
• Analyze sensor performance and support the design of future navigation and situational awareness sensors.

Required qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, aerospace, physics or an engineering discipline.
• Software development experience in C++ and Python.
• Must be willing to work extended hours and weekends as needed.

Nice to have

• Advanced degree in an engineering discipline, mathematics, or physics, with a focus on attitude determination, rotational dynamics, or image processing.
• Real-world experience with star trackers, gyroscopes, magnetometers, sun sensors, and accelerometers, including ground testing, qualification, and on-orbit operations.
• Proficiency in image processing for astrometric applications, including background subtraction, spot finding, centroiding, frame stacking, and star pattern identification.
• Expertise in sequential estimation techniques, including Kalman filtering, residual editing, filter tuning, covariance analysis, consider parameters, adaptive processes, and covariance realism, with a
• Strong background in astrometric and photometric measurement handling, including measurement processing, modeling, debiasing, calibration, and light-curve reduction.
• Experience with sensor fusion in real operational environments, including failure detection and recovery, fault tolerance, measurement weighting, and alert handling.
• Experience with optical sensors for vision-based navigation and space surveillance, including tracking resident space objects and inferring rotational motion.
• Experience with hardware acceleration for real-time image processing using GPUs and FPGAs.
• Proven ability to develop, test, and deploy algorithms for real-world space applications, with proficiency in version control systems like Git
• Ability to solve complex problems independently in a fast-paced, innovative environment

Benefits

• Company stock or long-term cash awards
• Ability to purchase additional stock at a discount through an Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• Comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage
• 401(k) retirement plan
• Short and long term disability insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid parental leave
• 3 weeks of paid vacation
• 10 or more paid holidays per year
• Paid sick time in compliance with state and federal law
• Company shuttles from select Seattle locations to the SpaceX Redmond office Monday to Friday

Before you apply

• Applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligibl

About the company

SpaceX was founded under the belief that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we are not. Today SpaceX is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal of enabling human life on Mars.