{"id":268631,"url":"https://alion.io/job/reflect-orbital-principal-gnc-engineer","title":"Principal GNC Engineer","company":{"id":5402,"name":"Reflect Orbital","domain":"reflectorbital.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/reflect-orbital","size_band":"51-200","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":70,"open_postings":3,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":1,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":63,"computed_at":"2026-11-04T06:34:25Z"}},"role":"Aerospace","role_family":"Aerospace","seniority":"lead","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Hawthorne, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":130000,"max":220000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":220000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":10,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"Human-in-the-Loop","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"Rust","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-09-02T02:34:30Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-09-02","last_verified_at":"2026-11-04T17:02:36Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":63,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":63},"description":"At Reflect, you will be expected to move fast, have a lot of ownership and, most importantly, be able to effect change. If this excites you, we are interested in hearing about your best work and accomplishments across any domain and from any points in your life.\nAbout the Role\nAs a Principal GNC Engineer you will directly shape the in-orbit performance of a novel space vehicle. Your work will span vehicle-level dynamics and control, orbit propagation, flight software and HITL testing on our avionics. We're looking for someone who brings \"full-stack\" GNC development capability to the table.\nResponsibilities\nCome up with creative solutions to the unique problems that come with precisely putting a spot of reflected sunlight on the ground from space.\n\nDesign, develop and test our closed-loop guidance, navigation and control for both attitude and orbit.\n\nPlan trajectories and attitude motion profiles that satisfy our spot serving constraints.\n\nDevelop and own our 6-DOF simulation of vehicle attitude and orbital dynamics, and use it to characterize vehicle performance through Monte Carlo analysis.\n\nWrite GNC algorithms in flight software (C++/Rust) and validate them using our avionics in the loop.\n\nDrive sensor and actuator selection with our avionics engineers so attitude determination and control are reliable in flight.\n\nAnalyze and plan orbits and constellation design to maximize our overall spot serving capability.\n\nIdeal Qualifications\n10+ years of professional GNC engineering experience, ideally on spacecraft or other dynamically controlled vehicles.\n\nClear technical ownership of a GNC subsystem that has flown, covering the simulation, the algorithms and the flight software.\n\nStrong background in modeling physical systems from first principles, including flexible body dynamics, sensors, actuators and the space environment.\n\nExpertise in state estimation design for attitude and orbit determination, validated in flight.\n\nAbility to verify and validate GNC flight software in an integrated environment, using HITL testing.\n\nExperience in guidance, maneuver and constellation design, including orbit selection, coverage and station-keeping.\n\nExperience in real-time spacecraft operations support, from commissioning through console operations to on-orbit anomaly resolution.\n\nFluency in Python, C++ and/or Rust.\n\nEven if you don’t meet 100% of the above qualifications, we are likely still interested in hearing from you. Hiring exceptional individuals is our #1 priority, and we believe that exceptional people often have highly unusual backgrounds.\nWe are also interested in carving out unique roles for unconventional people that we are excited about working with.\nBenefits\nReflect Orbital’s success will hinge on our team, which is why our compensation and benefits plan is designed to reward our employees and support their families as generously as we’re able.\nBroad choice of medical/dental/vision coverage, Reflect covers 100% of each base-policy\n\nAccess to HSA, FSA, and 401K\n\nUnlimited paid time off\n\nHealthy lunches provided daily\n\nEqual Opportunity\nReflect Orbital is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Reflect Orbital is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.\nMore about Reflect Orbital:\n\nLearn more about our team here.","description_format":"text","description_chars":3562,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":10,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["401k plan"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Space Services","Solar Energy"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-05T12:35:14Z"}],"visa":[{"country":"US","licensed_sponsor":true,"evidence":"H-1B filings in 12 months: 3","filings_12m":3,"filings_prev_12m":0,"green_card_filings_12m":0,"median_offered_wage_usd":157500,"route":null,"cap_exempt":false,"checked_at":"2026-10-29T16:27:21+00:00","sources":["US Department of Labor: LCA disclosure data (H-1B, H-1B1, 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