GNC Engineer, Attitude Determination and Optical Navigation (Starlink)

• 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.

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, aerospace, physics or an engineering discipline.

• Software development experience in C++ and Python.

• 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 applications to spacecraft attitude determination.

• 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

• Passion for space safety, satellite operations, and advancing the commercial space industry

• Excellent communication skills for collaborating across multidisciplinary teams

• Must be willing to work extended hours and weekends as needed

• To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, 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 eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here .

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