Relativity Space
Senior Controls Engineer, Optical Beam Pointing
$148K–$222K
Long Beach, California, United States · Senior · Full-time · Posted Sep 24, 2026
- Experience
- 3+ years of related experience.
- Education
- Undergraduate or graduate degree (BS/MS/PhD) in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Control Systems, Physics, or a similar technical discipline.
About the job
Leads development and verification of optical beam pointing control systems for a 2028 Mars Orbiter mission, from design through on-orbit operations.
What you'll do
- Design control, sensor-fusion, state-estimation, and fast-steering-mirror algorithms for precision optical pointing.
- Define system requirements, interfaces, models, simulations, and verification methods; support prototyping and ground testing.
- Provide technical leadership across engineering teams and support commissioning, flight operations, performance analysis, and anomaly resolution.
What they ask for
- Strong control-systems background, including classical and modern control theory, state-space methods, and nonlinear control.
- Experience with spacecraft GNC systems and sensor-fusion or state-estimation algorithms.
- Software development skills in at least one high-level language and one scripting language.
- Ability to own end-to-end projects, work autonomously, and communicate technical decisions across disciplines.
Nice to have
- Graduate degree in engineering or physics; prior technical leadership in spacecraft or satellite development.
- Experience with precision actuation, inertial sensing, flight software, optical communications, simulation, testing, or flight operations.
Pay
USD $148,000 — $222,000 (base salary)
Tools
C++, Rust, Python, Matlab, MATLAB/Simulink
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