Senior Electrical Engineer - Controls (Pointing, Acquisition & Tracking)
15 days ago
Jacksonville
Job Description Power the future of Space at Star Catcher Star Catcher is building the first energy grid in space to power the orbital economy. Today's spacecraft must generate all of their own power, which caps what they can do and how long they can operate. But what if they could "plug" into a grid, the way buildings do on Earth? Instead of cables and outlets, Star Catcher is building the technology to wirelessly beam energy to spacecraft's existing solar panels when and where they need it. Be an early member of a team building an entirely new energy infrastructure at scale to power the next frontier. Star Catcher Industries, Inc., located in Jacksonville, Florida, has an opportunity for a Senior Electrical Engineer - Controls (Pointing, Acquisition & Tracking) to support the development of space-to-space power beaming spacecraft and the Star Catcher Network, its orbital power grid. Key Responsibilities • Lead pointing, acquisition, and tracking (PAT) controls for spacecraft optical power delivery, from requirements and design through real-time implementation, verification, and on-orbit performance assessment., • Own PAT control and estimation architecture, including coarse/fine pointing coordination, acquisition, handoff, tracking, loss-of-lock detection, and reacquisition. Co-own system interfaces with electrical, FPGA, flight software, optical, mechanical, and spacecraft attitude-control leads., • Develop detection, centroiding, estimation, and sensor-fusion algorithms robust to low signal-to-noise ratio, background variation, platform motion, and intermittent measurements. Define measurement-validity and tracking-confidence criteria., • Define sensor, actuator, and processing requirements for field of view, dynamic range, noise, bandwidth, update rates, timestamp accuracy, latency, jitter, travel limits, and saturation behavior., • Own pointing and tracking error budgets, including bias, alignment, thermal drift, measurement noise, platform jitter, and timing error. Define coordinate frames and boresight calibration with optics and systems teams; allocate requirements and verification evidence across subsystems., • Deliver reference models and implementation requirements to FPGA and embedded software teams. Define numeric precision, timing, interfaces, telemetry, and fault behavior, and verify implemented algorithms against the reference models., • Build and correlate plant and end-to-end PAT models using measured actuator, sensor, and structural behavior. Evaluate stability, disturbance rejection, cross-axis coupling, saturation, and uncertainty across operating conditions., • Lead requirements-based verification using simulation, recorded-data replay, hardware-in-the-loop, and integrated testing. Cover acquisition, calibration, handoff, tracking, loss of lock, and recovery with repeatable acceptance criteria and configuration-controlled results., • Lead PAT architecture trade studies and support new program pursuits. Define tracking-validity and recovery interfaces with flight software and safety owners, including operating permissions and constraints., • Mentor engineers and lead technical design reviews as the PAT team grows.Basic Qualifications, • Education: Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Controls, Applied Physics, or a related technical discipline., • Experience: 5+ years of experience developing pointing, tracking, or guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) systems (e.g., optical tracking systems, line-of-sight stabilization, spacecraft attitude control, or gimbaled sensor systems). Senior-level selection is based on demonstrated PAT architecture ownership, integrated hardware verification, cross-disciplinary decisions, and technical leadership; five years is a minimum experience threshold, not a substitute for this evidence., • Strong foundation in control theory, estimation, and signal processing, with demonstrated design and hardware validation of precision feedback loops, including sampled-data effects, stability margins, disturbance rejection, and actuator limits., • Demonstrated experience developing target detection, centroiding, and tracking algorithms using imaging or position-sensing detectors., • Experience applying state estimation and sensor fusion, including measurement validity, covariance interpretation, coordinate transformations, and time alignment., • Experience translating algorithms into real-time embedded implementations with FPGA, DSP, or processor teams, including latency and numerical-precision tradeoffs and model-to-implementation verification., • Hands-on experience with system identification, control-loop tuning, hardware-in-the-loop testing, and troubleshooting integrated hardware/software systems; proficiency in MATLAB/Simulink, Python, or equivalent modeling and analysis tools.Desired Skills, • Heritage developing PAT, optical tracking, or line-of-sight stabilization systems that have flown on spacecraft or aircraft., • Experience using orbital ephemerides, relative-motion geometry, and uncertainty estimates for acquisition planning, including assessing data age and quality and handling cases where covariance is unavailable., • Experience with active illumination or lidar-based tracking and ranging systems., • Experience with fast steering mirrors, gimbals, or coarse pointing assemblies, including coarse/fine loop interaction, actuator saturation, and anti-windup., • Familiarity with EO/IR sensor characteristics (noise sources, integration time, stray light, background rejection) and their effect on tracking performance., • Experience with fixed-point algorithm design and verification, model-based design, or code-generation workflows for FPGA or embedded processors., • C/C++ experience for embedded implementation and Python or MATLAB experience for automated analysis, data replay, and test., • Familiarity with spacecraft attitude determination and control, payload-to-bus pointing interfaces, boresight calibration, and thermomechanical alignment effects., • Experience with NASA/DoD life cycle and technical reviews (e.g., SRR, PDR, CDR)., • Experience mentoring engineers or leading technical design reviews. Help us deploy and scale space infrastructure that will drive our utilization of space forward! We offer a highly competitive benefits package including access to comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, 401(k) retirement plan, life insurance, and paid parental leave, in addition to other benefits. Star Catcher is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Star Catcher is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status. All offers of employment at Star Catcher are contingent upon results of a thorough background check and your ability to provide proof of eligibility to work in the US. To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.
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