controls engineer Oxford, England
Job description
Are you an experienced Aerospace Control Engineer looking to venture into the realms of Laser Communication?
Join us and you will be working with a fun, experienced, and forward-thinking space engineering team to deliver transformative free-space lasercom solutions to help solve some of Earth's most critical problems, from economic inclusion to climate change. But that's not all! We work extensively with aerospace primes, ESA, space agencies and specialist research partners which will provide you with exposure to cutting-edge technologies and exciting challenges, all in a fast-paced, supportive startup environment. You will be an integral part of a growing team which has already won international prizes and awards including having completed the Catalyst Accelerator which is backed by the US Air Force, Space Force and Microsoft.
How you will make an impact
As Aerospace Control Engineer, you will be responsible for the development of the pointing, acquisition and tracking systems that underpin high performance lasercom. You will work closely with the lead control systems engineer, mechanical engineers and optical engineers to deliver high performance pointing systems. Your responsibilities will include:
- Control System Design: Develop and design control systems algorithms and strategies to ensure the optimal performance of the free-space laser communication systems. This may involve the use of classical, modern, or adaptive control techniques.
- Modeling and Simulation: Develop mathematical models of platforms, components and control systems. Use these models to simulate and analyze the performance of the overall system under various operating conditions.
- Support Embedded Implementation: support our embedded SW team to implement control algorithms on a real-time embedded platform, ensuring that the control system can execute efficiently and meet the required performance objectives.
- Testing and Validation: Design, conduct, and analyze tests of the control system and its components, both from component characterization to overall laser communication system, to validate performance and ensure compliance with requirements.
Must have requirements
- Strong understanding of control systems theory, including linear and nonlinear control techniques, system modeling, stability analysis, and state estimation.
- Substantial control system simulation and modelling experience in Simulink and MATLAB
- Practical experience implementing and testing real time control systems which interface with sensors and actuators.
- Proficiency in programming languages commonly used for control systems implementation, such as C, C++, Python.
Nice to have requirements
You don't need these to apply, but please highlight if you have any of them to help your application stand out:
- Domain Knowledge: Familiarity with satellite systems, laser communication technology, and aerospace engineering concepts is highly desirable.
- Relevant practical experience working with actuators and sensors used for stabilization and precise pointing in satellite laser communication systems: gimbals, DC motors, fast steering mirrors, inertial sensors, incremental and absolute encoders.
- Optical Systems and Tracking Sensors: Strong understanding of optical systems and experience with optical tracking sensors, essential for accurate beam pointing and maintaining reliable communication links.
- Understanding of calibration and state estimation methods: proven understanding of Kalman filters and/or mathematical optimization methods to perform calibration and system identification of complex optical and mechanical systems.
- Basic understanding of orbital mechanics and astronomy.
- Real-Time Control Systems: Experience implementing real-time control systems on Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS), ensuring deterministic and reliable operation.
Location: Hybrid with travel when required. Our office is currently based in Osney Mead, Oxford.
By joining us, you will have:
- The opportunity to make a measurable difference in a growing startup building cutting edge technology to support a world-changing vision;
- Flexibility: Options for flexible working hours, working from home and custom arrangements that matter to you;
- Merit-based compensation (salary, equity options scheme), alongside pension contribution and annual leave allowance
- Investment in you to help you grow, with training resources and budget
- A supportive team culture with high levels of ownership and responsibility
- Annual team retreat, regular socials and weekly team lunch
- A variety of additional perks including goodies, shopping discounts, learning and wellbeing app subscriptions
