Principal GNC EngineerDepartment: Software Engineering
Employment Type: Full Time
Location: Hawthorne, California
Reporting To: Denise Brown
Compensation: $180,000 - $235,000 / year
DescriptionAs the Principal GNC Engineer, you will own the GNC systems that enable Astrolab's rovers to operate safely and effectively in extreme environments. You will lead technical strategy and execution across guidance, navigation, control, and perception while managing and mentoring a high-performing engineering team.
This role combines deep technical leadership with people leadership. You will set system vision, make critical design decisions, drive execution, and ensure autonomy systems perform reliably on flight-ready vehicles operating on the lunar surface.
What you'll do:- Lead the design, verification, validation, testing, and characterization of GNC and perception systems for manual, semi-autonomous, and autonomous rover operations in a fast-moving, schedule-constrained development environment.
- Define GNC and perception technical direction and system architecture with inputs from stakeholders across GNC, avionics, and software
- Manage and mentor a team of GNC and perception engineers
- Work with avionics responsible engineers to select, test, characterize, and calibrate GNC and perception sensors
- Work closely with the simulation and software teams to prototype and analyze GNC algorithms in the vehicle simulation and software test environment
- Work closely with the flight software team to support implementation and testing of GNC and perception flight software
- Define and oversee testing and validation of the integrated GNC solution on a variety of simulation and test platforms in lab and analog environments
- Ensure the GNC and perception system design, implementation, and testing are closely coordinated with affected stakeholders such as vehicle engineering (for sensor and lighting placement), avionics, software, and mission operations team
- Ensure the GNC and perception system design and implementation meet all applicable safety, reliability, and fault tolerance requirements
- Balance performance, risk, and embedded compute constraints
- Ensure that rover GNC and perception systems support the required tele-operated, semi-autonomous, and fully autonomous vehicle operations
- Ensure the GNC team provides support during rover operations on the lunar surface
What you'll bring:- 10+ years of experience developing GNC, perception, and autonomy systems for space vehicles, extraterrestrial rovers, or autonomous terrestrial vehicles
- Hands-on ownership of GNC development in C++ is required; this role does not use MATLAB/Simulink for GNC analysis and does not use autocode
- Experience leading high-performing engineering teams and delivering complex technical programs under aggressive timelines and constrained resources
- Strong background supporting full vehicle development lifecycles, from architecture and trade studies through embedded implementation, verification, testing, and operations
- Deep expertise in perception and navigation systems, including sensor integration, image processing, localization, multi-sensor odometry, terrain-relative navigation, pose estimation, hazard detection, terrain mapping, and route planning
- Experience designing and executing autonomy and navigation test campaigns across simulation, lab, field, and analog environments and using statistical analysis methods such as Monte Carlo
- Hands-on experience developing and optimizing embedded autonomy, perception, and navigation software for compute- and power-constrained systems
- Familiarity with the unique challenges of extraterrestrial rover operations, including lunar terrain, lighting conditions, regolith, thermal constraints, limited power environments, and NASA mission assurance expectations
- Prior experience implementing and testing GNC and perception system software on real flight hardware or embedded platforms
Benefits and Perks- Join a team of best-in-class engineers building the foundation of planetary surface exploration
- Equity ownership in the company
- Comprehensive health benefits, including medical, dental, vision, and mental health support
- 401(k) plan with company match
- Flexible PTO and parental leave
- Home office set up reimbursement
- Weekly lunch stipend, plus complimentary snacks and beverages on-site
- Once a month social hour on-site with food and drinks
