Senior Controls Engineer (PAT)

About the role

As a Senior Acquisition, Tracking & Pointing Controls Engineer, you will lead the development of the pointing and tracking subsystem for our FSO laser communication terminal. You will design the algorithms and controls (both software and hardware). This role blends optics, sensors, and control theory. This role is on-site and will interface heavily with the optical, photonics, and modem teams to ensure an integrated design.

Own the end-to-end pointing, acquisition, and tracking (PAT) architecture for the FSO system to achieve sub-µrad pointing stability; develop pointing budgets that account for spacecraft attitude dynamics, thermal drift, and atmospheric disturbance, and allocate error to subsystems.
Design and implement algorithms to rapidly acquire transmitter and maintain lock.
Develop the control loops for fast steering mirrors (FSM) or precision actuators to actively suppress jitter and beam wander. Tune controllers to mitigate disturbances and minimize pointing error.
Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) Testing: Build a testbed to validate PAT performance, including hardware-in-loop simulations.
Rapidly prototype algorithms and simulations to flesh out design
Support troubleshooting and iteration during optical alignment sessions and system tests.

Bachelor’s or Master’s in Aerospace Engineering, Controls/Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics or similar field.
5+ years of experience working on pointing, tracking, or guidance/control systems (such as satellite attitude control, gimbal systems, or optical tracking systems).
Strong foundation in control theory and signal processing. Experience designing and tuning feedback control loops for high-precision systems.
Knowledge of sensor fusion and state estimation.
Understanding of optical pointing mechanisms, pointing errors, and jitter spectra.
Experience with gimbals, fast steering mirrors, precision opto-mechanical actuators or similar hardware.
Proficiency in programming for algorithm development and real-time implementation.
Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot complex hardware/software systems in a lab or field environment.