Impulse Space
Senior Controls Engineer (PAT)
$150K–$180K
Redondo Beach, California · On-site · Senior · Full-time · Posted Oct 28, 2026
- Experience
- 5+ years of experience working on pointing, tracking, or guidance/control systems.
- Education
- Bachelor’s or Master’s in Aerospace Engineering, Controls/Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics, or similar field.
- Visa sponsorship
- Applicants must be U.S. Persons or eligible to obtain an export license from applicable U.S. government agencies. U.S. Persons are defined in the posting.
About the job
Leads development of the pointing, acquisition, and tracking subsystem for a free-space optical laser communication terminal, including its controls, algorithms, and validation.
What you'll do
- Own the PAT architecture and pointing budgets to achieve sub-µrad stability; develop acquisition and tracking algorithms and control loops for steering mirrors or precision actuators.
- Build hardware-in-the-loop test capabilities, prototype algorithms and simulations, and support optical alignment and system testing.
- Coordinate with optical, photonics, and modem teams to integrate the design.
What they ask for
- Bachelor’s or Master’s in Aerospace Engineering, Controls/Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics, or a similar field.
- 5+ years working on pointing, tracking, or guidance/control systems.
- Strong foundation in control theory and signal processing, including experience designing and tuning feedback loops for high-precision systems.
- Knowledge of sensor fusion and state estimation, optical pointing mechanisms and errors, and experience with pointing hardware or similar systems.
Nice to have
- Experience with spacecraft GNC, free-space optical communications or telescopes, adaptive optics, or aerospace environments.
- Experience with low-latency control implementations using FPGAs, DSPs, real-time operating systems, or embedded systems; control-system test platforms.
Pay
$150,000 - $180,000 / year (base salary)
Tools
FSO, HIL, FSM, FPGAs, DSPs, real-time operating systems
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative