GNC Lead

GalaxEye is hiring a GNC Lead for DG-2 Nexus, a 250-300 kg class smallsat. The role carries two mandates: acting as GalaxEye's technical authority over a turnkey ADCS procured from an external vendor, and building our internal ADCS design and analysis capability in parallel. You must be able to independently reproduce and challenge the vendor's analysis rather than manage it at arm's length.

Responsibilities

• Own ADCS requirements, pointing budgets - accuracy, knowledge, stability, jitter, agility, settling - and their flow-down from mission needs
• Own the ADCS SRD and the ADCS-to-bus ICD
• Run vendor technical evaluation and selection; review and independently verify vendor design data packs, analysis and simulation results
• Define and agree the acceptance test campaign; witness and accept vendor testing
• Own sensor and actuator accommodation - mounting, alignment, FOV, thermal, magnetic cleanliness, EMC
• Build and own GalaxEye's internal closed-loop 6-DOF ADCS simulation, including flexible body dynamics and environmental disturbances
• Design attitude determination and control: sensor fusion and estimation, control laws, mode design and transition logic, FDIR and safe mode
• Size actuators and define momentum management strategy
• Run Monte Carlo campaigns for performance and robustness verification
• Provide mass properties, MOI, CG and alignment constraints to the mechanical team; ADCS processing and telemetry requirements to C&DH
• Interface with the Missions team on manoeuvres and attitude control during burns
• Own GNC content at MCR, PDR, DDR, CDR and FRR; own on-orbit commissioning and ADCS performance characterisation

Requirements

• 7+ years in spacecraft GNC/ADCS
• Has taken at least one ADCS through to flight and on-orbit operation
• Deep attitude dynamics and control fundamentals - able to derive, not only apply
• Has built closed-loop ADCS simulations in MATLAB/Simulink, Python or equivalent
• Attitude estimation - Kalman filtering, sensor fusion, star tracker and gyro integration
• Pointing budget derivation and allocation across error sources
• Actuator sizing and momentum management
• Has specified or accepted an ADCS or comparable subsystem from an external supplier

Desirable

• Earth observation mission GNC - agile, slew-intensive tasking
• Smallsat ADCS in the 100-500 kg class
• Flexible body dynamics and jitter analysis
• Hardware- or processor-in-the-loop test setup
• Flight software interface - algorithm handover and V&V
• Orbit determination and GNSS processing
• On-orbit commissioning and anomaly resolution
• Familiarity with the ADCS supplier landscape

Qualifications

• Degree in Aerospace Engineering, Control Systems or a closely related discipline; postgraduate qualification preferred

Benefits

What We Offer

• Fair Compensation in line with current market standards.
• Start-up Culture: Be part of a high-growth, innovation-driven team.
• Open Culture: Freedom to explore, propose, and implement new ideas and processes.
• Leadership Exposure: Opportunity to work directly with the Founding Team at GalaxEye.
• Industry Mentorship: Work with advisors and mentors holding senior positions and decades of industry experience.