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Senior Controls Engineer

Cowboy Space Corporation· Launch & Propulsion Engineering
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Kent, Washington$165k - $190kFull-timePosted 3mo ago

About the role

Design and develop motor controls, automation sequences, and embedded control systems for vehicle fluid systems, enabling robust, flight-ready control solutions from concept through integration and operations.

Responsibilities

  • Design and implement motor control systems for electrically actuated valves and pumps, interfacing with drive electronics, feedback sensing, and control algorithms.
  • Develop automated sequences for propellant fill, drain, vent, and conditioning operations on both vehicle and ground support equipment.
  • Architect and implement closed-loop control for fluid system parameters (pressure, temperature, flow rate, liquid level) across propulsion and thermal subsystems.
  • Select and integrate actuators, motors, encoders, position sensors, and pressure/temperature instrumentation for fluid system control.
  • Design control electronics hardware (motor drivers, power stages, sensor interfaces) or define requirements for electrical engineering partners.
  • Develop embedded firmware and real-time control software for fluid system controllers and sequencers.
  • Perform system modeling and simulation to validate control strategies, predict transient behavior, and tune controller gains.
  • Define and execute hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) and system-level test campaigns to verify control performance and fault response.
  • Develop fault detection, isolation, and recovery (FDIR) logic for fluid system automation to ensure safe operations during nominal and off-nominal conditions.
  • Work closely with fluid systems, propulsion, avionics, and software teams to integrate controls into the broader vehicle architecture.
  • Support propulsion hot-fire testing, vehicle fill/drain operations, and ground system commissioning.
  • Investigate anomalies, analyze telemetry data, and iterate on control designs to improve performance and reliability.

Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s degree in Mechatronics, Electrical, Mechanical, Aerospace, or related engineering field.
  • 3+ years of experience in controls engineering, mechatronics, or automation for hardware systems.
  • Experience with motor control (BLDC, stepper, or brushed) including drive electronics and feedback control.
  • Experience with PID control loops, kalman filtering, feedforward control or other control loops and estimation algorithms.
  • Proficiency in embedded programming (C/C++) for real-time control applications.
  • Experience developing automated sequences or state machines for complex physical systems.
  • Hands-on experience integrating sensors, actuators, and control electronics into hardware assemblies.

Skills

Required:Motor control systemsEmbedded firmware and real-time softwareSystem modeling and simulationHardware-in-the-loop testingFDIR logic

Benefits

  • Equity in Cowboy Space Corp.
  • Medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and their eligible dependents
  • 401(k) retirement savings plan
  • Paid time off
  • 10 paid holidays per calendar year
  • Paid parental leave
  • Relocation assistance if applicable
  • Daily lunch in the office and a fully stocked kitchen with beverages and snacks
Last updated Sep 20, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About Cowboy Space Corporation

Powering Humanity From the High Frontier

Cowboy Space Corp. is building a power grid in outer space for artificial intelligence. It is an integrated system of satellites and rockets to haul high-performance compute and optical data transmission down from Low Earth Orbit. Earth's energy grid can't run at the pace of AI. We can.

Orbital Data CentersAI compute in spacesolar-powered data centersLow Earth Orbitpower grid in space
Company profileWebsite

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