{"id":705245,"url":"https://alion.io/job/inversionspace-senior-gnc-engineer","title":"Senior GNC Engineer","company":{"id":678249,"name":"Inversion","domain":"inversionspace.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/inversionspace","size_band":"51-200","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Greenhouse","truth_index":{"grade":"C","score":68,"open_postings":76,"ghost_share":0.526,"stale_share":0,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":null,"computed_at":"2026-10-03T05:45:00Z"}},"role":"Industrial Engineering","role_family":"Industrial Engineering","seniority":"senior","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Vista, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":139000,"max":199000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":199000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":5,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"Human-in-the-Loop","optional":false},{"name":"MATLAB","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"Simulink","optional":false},{"name":"Spark","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-06-25T23:30:38Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-09-25","last_verified_at":"2026-10-04T00:20:57Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":100,"trust":{"level":"ghost","repost_count":0,"flags":["stale","company_stale"],"days_open":99},"description":"Advanced Reentry Technologies\nWho We Are:\n\nInversion is an aerospace and defense company pioneering advanced reentry technology to enable next-generation capabilities from space. By combining high-performance materials, precision aerodynamics, and mission-driven autonomy, Inversion is transforming reentry into an operational capability for an entirely new class of missions.\nThe company’s highly maneuverable reentry spacecraft, Arc, is designed for rapid global cargo delivery, hypersonic testing, and other national security missions that require precise, controlled flight through the atmosphere. Arc creates an entirely new transportation domain, unlocking unprecedented speed and global reach.\nHeadquartered in Los Angeles, Inversion designs, manufactures, and integrates its spacecraft under one roof, enabling the company to move rapidly from concept to flight. The company is backed by leading investors including Y Combinator, Spark Capital, and Lockheed Martin Ventures, with customers across the U.S. government and commercial space industry.\nWhat You'll Do: \nHigh-performance maneuvering demands an extremely responsive airframe and control system. As the Senior GNC Engineer (Controls), you will be part of the team that develops high fidelity plant models describing Inversion’s reentry vehicles and you own the development of the flight control system that allows our vehicles to track aggressive guidance commands quickly and crisply. In this role, you will: \nDevelop plant models of the vehicle and its subsystems aerodynamics, actuators, sensors, and structural dynamics at the fidelity needed for control design and verification\nDesign and analyze high-rate flight control loops that stabilize a statically unstable airframe across the flight envelope \nDeliver the autopilot bandwidth and command tracking needed to respond quickly to real-time guidance commands \nQuantify and manage stability margins in the presence of sample rate, latency, actuator dynamics, and structural mode constraints \nIntegrate and exercise control designs in 3-DOF and 6-DOF flight simulations, including Monte Carlo robustness assessment across dispersed conditions \nCarry control algorithms through implementation in real-time flight software and hardware-in-the-loop testing \nWork closely with the guidance, aerodynamics, structures, and avionics teams to close vehicle-level performance \nRequired Qualifications: \nBachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, a related field, or equivalent experience\nTypically, 5+ years of applicable experience designing and testing control systems for aerospace vehicles \nExperience building plant models of aerospace systems, including aerodynamic, actuator, and sensor dynamics and controlling open-loop unstable systems \nExperience with high-rate digital control design, including discretization, sample rate selection, and the management of latency and computational delay \nExperience developing and exercising 3-DOF and 6-DOF flight simulations \nStrong fundamentals in classical and modern control theory, including frequency-domain loop shaping, stability margin analysis, and state-space methods \nProficiency with MATLAB/Simulink and programming languages such as Python or C++ \nDemonstrated excellent verbal and written communication skills \nCapable of working in a dynamic, fast-paced startup environment \nMust have the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government Secret/Top Secret security clearance. \nDesired Qualifications: \nMaster's or PhD in Aerospace Engineering, a related field, or equivalent experience\nExperience with autopilot design for reentry, hypersonic, missile, or other high-dynamic-pressure flight systems \nExperience applying frequency-domain loop shaping to flight control design, including the construction of phase and gain budgets and the management of two-sided stability margins for conditionally stable systems \nExperience modeling actuator nonlinearities, including rate and position limits, and their effect on stability of unstable plants \nExperience with flexible-body dynamics and aeroservoelastic effects, including structural mode filtering \nExperience with system identification and control-relevant model updates from ground or flight test data \nExperience implementing control algorithms in real-time flight software on embedded hardware \nHardware-in-the-Loop (HITL) test experience \nPrior experience working in startups and/or small independent teams \nOur office headquarters is located in Playa Vista, CA. This position requires in office presence.\nThe California annual base salary for this role is currently $139,000-$199,000. Pay Grades are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual pay will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: interviews and an assessment of several factors that are unique to each candidate, job-related skills, relevant education and experience, certifications, abilities of the candidate and internal equity. \n#LI-FH1\nITAR Compliance:\nTo conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here. \nEqual Employment Opportunity:\nInversion provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, veteran status, or disability. \nInversion collects and processes personal data in accordance with applicable data protection laws. If you are a US Job Applicant see the CCPA Privacy Policy Notice for further details.","description_format":"text","description_chars":5895,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":5,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":true,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Military","Space & Aerospace","Logistics"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-11T03:44:23Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":8,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.3,"p_room":0.28,"age_days":99,"expected_fill_days":42,"reasons":["conf:12","stale_co","velocity","ghost","win:tail","crowd:"],"computed_at":"2026-10-03T05:45:00Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":199000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/inversionspace-senior-gnc-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/inversionspace-senior-gnc-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-04T00:56:48Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","usage":{"tier":"crawler","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":1222,"day_limit":5000,"remaining_today":3778,"minute_limit":60,"resets_at":"2026-10-05T00:00:00Z"}}}