Senior Controls Engineer

Background

Cowboy Space Corporation is building the infrastructure to power and connect the orbital economy. Our modular, scalable satellites collect sunlight in Low Earth Orbit to enable multiple integrated applications: transmitting energy via infrared lasers (space-to-earth and space-to-space), powering on-orbit high-performance computing clusters (GPU/TPU), and providing secure, high bandwidth optical data transport.

Current energy and data systems rely on complex logistics and outdated infrastructure. Cowboy Space Corporation overcomes these challenges by enabling direct, on-demand, secure, and scalable energy distribution and data processing from space. This will revolutionize how we operate in orbit and on Earth, supporting the rapidly expanding space industrial base, ISAM (In-Space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing) operations, remote regions, and military bases.

Baiju Bhatt founded Cowboy Space Corporation in 2024. Inspired by his father’s work with NASA Langley Research Center, Baiju earned his B.S. in Physics and M.S. in Mathematics at Stanford before co-founding Robinhood, now a public company that has helped over 20 million Americans access the financial system. Cowboy Space Corporation has raised ~$365 million from Index Ventures, Interlagos, Construct Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, and others.

This is an ambitious mission that demands extraordinary talent. Cowboy Space Corporation’s team has worked at places like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Stoke Space, Astranis and NASA, and is based in San Carlos, CA. If you're ready to solve complex technical challenges and help build the most important energy company in the world, we want to hear from you.

About the Role

You will design and develop motor controls, automation sequences, and embedded control systems for the vehicle’s fluid systems. This includes motor-driven valve and pump actuation, automated fill/drain/vent/conditioning sequences, and closed-loop control of fluid subsystems across propulsion, pressurization, and thermal management. You will work at the intersection of electrical, mechanical, and software engineering to deliver 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.

Basic 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.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with PLC/PAC programming or custom sequencing engines for ground support equipment.
• Knowledge of control system design tools (MATLAB/Simulink, Python, LabVIEW, or equivalent) for modeling and simulation.
• Experience designing or specifying motor drives and power electronics for harsh environments (vibration, thermal extremes).
• Familiarity with communication protocols common in aerospace (CAN, RS-422, EtherCAT, SpaceWire).
• Experience with hardware-in-the-loop testing and rapid prototyping of control systems.
• Understanding of fluid system physics (pressure regulation, two-phase flow, thermal transients) as it relates to control design.
• Experience with launch vehicle, spacecraft, or rocket engine fluid system controls.
• Familiarity with cryogenic fluid handling and the controls challenges of cryogenic environments.

Compensation and Benefits

The salary range for this position is $165,000 - $190,000 annually. The actual base salary offered will depend on factors such as job-related skills, experience, qualifications, and internal equity.

• Equity in Cowboy Space Corp.
• Employees and their eligible dependents may enroll in medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 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

ITAR Requirements

• Export Control Requirement: To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), applicants 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. Learn more about ITAR here.