About the Company

At AstroForge, our mission is to expand humanity’s capabilities to utilize the untapped resources in space.

Job Description

As Head of GNC, you will be responsible for pushing the technical boundaries of flight control systems for the world's first asteroid mining vehicles. You will lead a talented team of engineers to develop, analyze, and test vehicles and subsystems for highly reliable flight. You should thrive in fast-paced, dynamic environments where you adapt quickly and love to solve hard problems. The ideal candidate excels at working in a multidisciplinary, fast-paced environment.

Responsibilities

• Develop innovative guidance, navigation, and control systems for deep space missions.
• Engage in multi-disciplinary vehicle systems investigations and design work that defines the systems architecture.
• Implement new software or algorithms to enable mission-unique capabilities.
• Develop 6-DOF dynamics simulation models used for GNC systems analysis and validation.
• Analyze trajectories, performance dispersions, and flight stability.
• Conduct post flight data review and correlation with analyses for continued improvement of predictions.
• Support launch and mission operations of vehicles that you enabled.
• Perform testing of GNC software utilizing hardware-in-the-loop testing, Monte Carlo analysis, and algorithm unit testing.
• Build, mentor, and lead a team of exceptional engineers.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in Physics or related science or engineering discipline.
• 5+ years of professional experience in control systems, orbital mechanics, classical dynamics, aerodynamics, sensors and actuators, modeling and simulation.
• Experience with programming languages and software engineering. Python, C/C++ experience preferred.
• Demonstrated project or professional experience in spacecraft systems.
• Ability to work in an autonomously driven and demanding startup atmosphere.
• Ability to cultivate strong interpersonal relationships with engineers, leadership, and vendors.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.
• This role is located onsite in Huntington Beach, CA.

Preferred Experience

• Postgraduate Degree in Physics or related science or engineering discipline.
• 10+ years of professional experience in control systems, orbital mechanics, classical dynamics, aerodynamics, sensors and actuators, modeling and simulation.
• Demonstrated ability to lead and scale an engineering team.
• Capable of solving complex problems with little to no supervision on schedule as an individual or as a member of an integrated team
• Experience in a very small or a startup business.

Benefit Highlights

• Work alongside passionate people who want to expand humanity’s capabilities, in space!
• Strong healthcare and life insurance coverage.
• 2 weeks of PTO + 1 week of sick time.
• Retirement savings plan – 401(k), with company match.
• Office stipend to make your workspace your own!
• Equity on the ground floor of a startup.

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Salary

• The base salary range for this position is $200k+. Factors like job related knowledge, education, and experience will determine your specific salary. Higher base pay may be available for someone with advanced skills and/or experience. Base salary is just one part of your total comp/rewards package at this company. There is an equity component to full-time offers on top of base pay, along with the other benefits mentioned in this job description.