Senior GNC Engineer

Who We Are: 

Inversion builds advanced reentry systems to deliver next-generation capabilities from space.
 
Our mission is to make Earth radically more accessible by turning Low-Earth Orbit into an on-demand logistics domain. We see space not as a destination, but as a platform — one that unlocks unprecedented speed and global reach.
 
Our spacecraft are designed to deliver payloads anywhere on Earth in under an hour, operating through extreme reentry conditions and landing with high precision. These systems open the door to new ways of testing, delivering, and operating at hypersonic speeds.
 
Inherently dual-use, our technology is built to meet urgent national security needs while laying the groundwork for future commercial applications. Backed by leading investors including Y Combinator, Spark Capital, and Lockheed Martin Ventures, and working with partners such as the U.S. Space Force and NASA, Inversion is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in space-based defense and logistics.

What You’ll Do:

As a GNC Engineer at Inversion, you will have an instrumental impact on the functionality and performance of our next-generation reentry vehicles. You will own a substantial aspect of the Guidance, Navigation, and Control that will enable the accurate and precise landing of our Arc spacecraft. Aspects of this work include developing novel algorithms for the final landing stages of flight, building the modeling and simulation needed to quickly iterate on those algorithms, and rapidly flight testing them to achieve the required performance. This is a unique opportunity to work on the early stages of a novel reentry vehicle, including defining vehicle architecture and creatively solving new design challenges. Your impact will be on all aspects of the Guidance, Navigation, and Control that powers the world’s first reentry vehicle designed for turning space into a transportation layer for Earth. You will be a key member of the Accurate Landing team, reporting directly to the Director of Engineering, Accurate Landing.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, a related field, or equivalent experience.

• Typically 5+ years of applicable experience developing and testing GNC algorithms and systems.

• Strong fundamental understanding of controls and estimation algorithms including Kalman filtering, sensor fusion, and state estimation.

• Solid grasp of classical mechanics, dynamics, and rigid body motion.

• Proficiency in programming languages such as MATLAB, Python, or C++ for simulation and analysis.

• Demonstrated excellent verbal and written communication skills.

• Capable of working in a dynamic, fast-paced startup environment.

• This position is on-site at Inversion HQ in Playa Vista, CA.

Desired Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, a related field, or equivalent experience.

• Experience with guidance and trajectory planning algorithms

• Experience with system identification and parameter estimation for complex dynamical systems.

• Experience building code deployed to real hardware in a compute-restricted environment.

• Practical experience developing GNC for airborne vehicles.

• Hardware in the Loop (HITL) test experience.

Our office headquarters is located in Playa Vista, CA. This position requires in office presence.

The 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.  

#LI-FH1

Building autonomous re-entry vehicles for global space-to-Earth cargo delivery.