Inversion
Senior GNC Engineer (Reentry)
Playa Vista, California, United States · Senior
Sponsorship not specifiedDetected 26 days ago
PythonC++MATLABAlgorithmsSparkLogisticsRoboticsMechanical DesignAerospace EngineeringElectrical EngineeringSensorsControlsActuators
About the role
- These systems open the door to new ways of testing, delivering, and operating at hypersonic speeds.
- Inherently dual-use, our technology is built to meet urgent national security needs while laying the groundwork for future commercial applications.
Responsibilities
- In this role, you will own the guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) algorithms that govern the hypersonic and supersonic phases of flight from reentry initiation down to main parachute deployment.
- You will design, model, and validate flight control laws, trajectory planning algorithms, and state estimation filters to safely maneuver through extreme aerothermal environments.
- Operating with high autonomy, you will build 6DOF simulation capabilities, evaluate control authority of flap actuators, and directly influence the vehicle's aerodynamic shape and trajectory architecture.
- Design, implement, and tune guidance and control laws for high-speed hypersonic and supersonic reentry.
- Develop robust state estimation algorithms, sensor fusion, and navigation filters utilizing IMU, GPS, and flight instrumentation.
- Build, maintain, and scale high-fidelity 6DOF modeling and simulation environments to evaluate flight performance, control authority, and trajectory dispersion.
- Analyze control-structure interactions and manage mechanical actuator requirements for hypersonic flaps and control surfaces.
- Support the deployment and testing of GNC flight software in Software-in-the-Loop (SIL) and Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) environments.
- Collaborate with aerothermal, structures, and flight software teams to optimize vehicle design trades and trajectory constraints.
- Typically 5+ years of professional experience developing, testing, and deploying flight GNC algorithms for high-speed vehicles (launch, reentry, hypersonic, or tactical systems).
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent technical experience.
- Proficiency in programming languages such as MATLAB, Python, or C++ for aerospace modeling, simulation, and analysis.
- Experience with 6DOF trajectory simulation and Monte Carlo dispersion analysis.
Company info
- Inversion builds advanced reentry systems to deliver next-generation capabilities from space.
- Our mission is to make Earth radically more accessible by turning Low-Earth Orbit into an on-demand logistics domain.
- We see space not as a destination, but as a platform - one that unlocks unprecedented speed and global reach.
- Our spacecraft are designed to deliver payloads anywhere on Earth in under an hour, operating through extreme reentry conditions and landing with high precision.
- Backed by leading investors including Y Combinator, Spark Capital, and Lockheed Martin Ventures, and working with partners such as the U.S. Space Force and NASA, Inversion is pushing the boundaries of what's possible in space-based defense and logistics.
- As a Senior GNC Engineer at Inversion, you will report directly to the Senior Manager of Arc Vehicle Reentry.
- Conduct comprehensive Monte Carlo dispersion analyses to prove vehicle reliability under aerodynamic, atmospheric, and mass uncertainties.
- Required Qualifications
- Strong fundamental understanding of classical and modern control theory, estimation algorithms, Kalman filtering, and rigid-body dynamics.
- <li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="26" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":,"469777803":"left","46977
Apply directly at Inversion →Create a free account for alerts like thisView Inversion immigration profile
This listing is sourced directly from Inversion's careers page and normalized into a canonical job model.