Senior Controls Engineer – Electro-mechanical Products

BLUE ORIGIN

. Lead system architecture, requirements development, design, implementation, integration, testing, and qualification of reaction wheels and momentum-control systems .

Posted 9/25/2026full-timeUnited StatesSenior💰 $144,179 - $219,522 per yearWebsite

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

AssemblyC++

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Lead system architecture, requirements development, design, implementation, integration, testing, and qualification of reaction wheels and momentum-control systems
Develop and mature control algorithms for speed, torque/current, momentum management, fault detection, and safe-mode behaviors
Design motor-control solutions for spacecraft actuators, including PMSM/BLDC motors, field-oriented control, space-vector PWM, commutation, current control, and speed-control loops
Develop real-time embedded control architectures, including functional decomposition, hardware selection, processor/FPGA partitioning, timing analysis, and software-layer definition
Oversee FPGA design and implementation for motor-control and actuator systems
Lead embedded flight software development, including bootloaders, scheduling, system management, mode control, command/telemetry interfaces, and health monitoring
Define and implement FDIR strategies for actuator electronics and software
Perform dynamic-system modeling, controls analysis, simulation, and validation using MATLAB/Simulink and real-time simulation environments
Lead integration and testing of motors, sensors, power electronics, FPGA firmware, embedded software, and mechanical assemblies
Develop verification approaches, test procedures, and data-analysis methods for component- and system-level testing
Oversee electrical, mechanical, GNC, systems engineering, manufacturing, reliability, and mission teams
Provide technical mentorship, design leadership, and review support across controls, FPGA, and embedded software disciplines
Support anomaly resolution, root-cause investigations, and continuous improvements
Deliver reaction wheel and momentum-control requirements, architectures, interface definitions, motor-control algorithms, FPGA designs, flight-software designs, dynamic models, simulation results, test plans, reports, and anomaly-resolution documentation

Requirements

What you’ll need

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related technical discipline
15+ years of direct experience designing, developing, testing, and deploying Reaction Wheel Assemblies, reaction wheel control systems, or closely related spacecraft actuator systems
Experience developing control algorithms and real-time control systems for precision electromechanical systems
Extensive motor-control experience with three-phase PMSM or BLDC drives, field-oriented control, space-vector PWM, current/torque control, and speed-control loops
Experience designing and implementing embedded control systems, including hardware/software partitioning, processor selection, timing architecture, and real-time execution
Experience with FPGA-based controls implementation and development workflows
Proficiency in C and/or C++ for embedded applications
Experience with MATLAB/Simulink for controls modeling, simulation, analysis, and/or embedded code generation
Experience with embedded processors, DSPs, microcontrollers, and/or FPGA platforms such as TI DSP, ARM, Xilinx, MicroBlaze, Microsemi, or equivalent
Experience with real-time operating systems, schedulers, or deterministic embedded architectures, such as VxWorks, Green Hills, or custom bare-metal/scheduler-based systems
Experience implementing serial communications, memory and peripheral management, timers, counters, watchdogs, bootloaders, and hardware bring-up
Ability to read and interpret electrical schematics, wiring diagrams, and mechanical drawings
Hands-on laboratory experience with oscilloscopes, logic/protocol analyzers, power supplies, signal generators, embedded debug tools, and electromechanical assembly/test equipment
Applicants must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident/current Green Card holder, or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum
Required to pass Blue’s Standard Background Check
Preferred: advanced degree in Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Controls, Robotics, or a related discipline
Preferred: experience with small-satellite or spacecraft attitude-control hardware, control moment systems, flight software, VHDL/Verilog, aerospace qualification requirements, integrated hardware/FPGA/flight-software teams, spacecraft GNC interfaces, production embedded systems, design-for-manufacturability, and technical mentorship

Benefits

Comp & perks

Medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance
Paid parental leave
Short- and long-term disability
401(k) with a company match of up to 5%
Education Support Program
Stock options for all regular employees working at least 20 hours/week
Up to four weeks of paid time off per year based on weekly scheduled hours
Up to 14 company-paid holidays
Potential benefits and bonuses based on role type, job level, individual contributions, company results, or other factors