Contract Flight Simulation Engineer Jobs in Colorado

Senior GNC Simulation Engineer - Build the Flight Simulation Environment for Next-Generation Spacecraft

Denver, Colorado | On-site

Opportunity Summary

Join a venture-backed aerospace company developing advanced spacecraft platforms designed to support the next generation of autonomous in-space operations. As the company progresses from prototype development toward flight-qualified systems, this role will lead the development of the simulation and verification environment used to validate guidance, navigation, and control performance before hardware reaches orbit. As a Senior GNC Simulation Engineer, you will own the simulation infrastructure supporting flight software development, vehicle dynamics, and mission verification. You'll build high-fidelity simulation environments that accurately model spacecraft physics, sensors, actuators, and onboard software while enabling rapid testing through hardware-in-the-loop, software-in-the-loop, and Monte Carlo analysis. Working closely with GNC, embedded software, avionics, and systems engineering teams, you'll help ensure simulation results translate directly to flight performance.

About Us

We are an early-stage aerospace company developing advanced spacecraft technologies for future commercial and government space missions. Our multidisciplinary engineering team combines flight software, avionics, autonomy, and mechanical design to solve challenging problems in spacecraft mobility and in-space operations. Engineers have broad technical ownership and play an active role in moving systems from concept through flight validation.

Job Duties

• Design, develop, and maintain high-fidelity simulation environments supporting spacecraft guidance, navigation, and control development.
• Build 6DOF physics models representing spacecraft dynamics, orbital motion, environmental effects, and vehicle interactions.
• Develop simulation infrastructure that integrates directly with production flight software.
• Design and maintain hardware-in-the-loop and software-in-the-loop verification environments.
• Develop sensor, actuator, communication, and subsystem models that accurately represent flight hardware behavior.
• Build Monte Carlo analysis frameworks for performance evaluation across thousands of mission scenarios.
• Develop simulation configuration, automation, logging, visualization, and telemetry tools.
• Validate simulation fidelity through comparison with hardware testing and flight data.
• Support regression testing and continuous verification of guidance, navigation, and control algorithms.
• Reproduce flight anomalies and investigate discrepancies between simulation and hardware performance.
• Collaborate closely with GNC, embedded software, avionics, perception, and systems engineering teams to improve simulation accuracy and software reliability.
• Participate in architecture discussions, design reviews, and verification planning throughout product development.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, Applied Mathematics, or a related technical discipline.
• 5+ years developing simulation software for aerospace, robotics, autonomous systems, or other dynamic platforms.
• Strong software development experience using modern C++ and Python.
• Experience developing high-fidelity dynamic simulation environments.
• Strong understanding of rigid-body dynamics, numerical integration, orbital mechanics, and control systems.
• Experience integrating software into simulation or hardware verification environments.
• Familiarity with collaborative software development practices and version control systems.

Preferred Experience

• High-fidelity 6DOF spacecraft or aircraft simulation.
• Hardware-in-the-loop and software-in-the-loop testing.
• Monte Carlo simulation and statistical performance analysis.
• Real-time or embedded software development.
• Flight software integration and verification.
• Sensor and actuator modeling.
• Numerical integration methods and nonlinear dynamic systems.
• Distributed software architectures or multi-rate simulation frameworks.
• Data visualization, telemetry analysis, or simulation dashboards.
• Experience supporting spacecraft, autonomous vehicles, robotics, UAVs, or other mission-critical autonomous systems.

Why Join Us

• Own the simulation platform that validates every flight-critical GNC capability.
• Build the verification infrastructure supporting next-generation autonomous spacecraft.
• Work alongside a highly collaborative multidisciplinary engineering team.
• Significant technical ownership with direct influence on product architecture and development processes.
• Competitive salary and meaningful early-stage equity opportunity.
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• Life and disability insurance.
• Paid parental leave.
• Three weeks of paid vacation plus company holidays.

Compensation Details

$120,000 - $165,000