GNC Test and Integration Engineer
Avionics - Villeneuve, CH
The position
- Crew
- Avionics
- Location
- Villeneuve, CH
- Type of contract
- Full-time
Your role
PAVE Space is building LYOBA, a heavy kick stage moving up to 4-tonne payloads from LEO to high-energy orbits in under 24 hours.
So, why now? We're standing up component-level test infrastructure for GNC sensors (sun sensors, star trackers, GPS) and actuators (reaction wheels, magnetorquers), along with system-level PIL, tabletop HIL, and dynamic HIL simulation environments. The benches need to be running in weeks, not quarters. As vehicle integration approaches, the same person owns the tooling and acceptance tests that clear hardware for flight.
You will own
Build and commission GNC test benches for sensors and actuators, from concept to working hardware
Design and maintain PIL, tabletop HIL, and dynamic HIL simulation setups
Automate test environments so unattended, around-the-clock testing runs safely and efficiently
Characterise sensor noise, bias, drift, and actuator performance, and turn data into clear pass/fail results
Investigate hardware and software anomalies surfaced during testing
Own integration tooling and vehicle acceptance test processes as flight hardware comes together
What we are looking for
Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, or related field
Hands-on experience testing GNC sensors, actuators, or control systems hardware
Strong foundation in electrical and mechanical design for test setups
Proficient in MATLAB, Python, or C++ for test automation and data analysis
A track record of building something from nothing to working, instrumented hardware
Comfortable owning scope end to end, from design through commissioning
Nice to have: advanced degree (Aerospace, Robotics, Control Systems), spacecraft avionics architecture knowledge, experience with HIL/SIL frameworks, rapid prototyping background, or high-reliability industry experience (aerospace, automotive, robotics).
You will fit if
You'd rather own the whole test chain than hand off pieces to someone else.
You care about measurement uncertainty and edge cases because you know that's where hardware actually gets qualified.
You step outside your discipline when the timeline demands it: wiring a harness one day, writing a Python script the next.
You want your work to directly gate whether something flies.
This is fully on-site in Villeneuve (VD), early-stage, and demanding. Some of these benches don't exist yet; you're building them, not inheriting them. Things will break, schedules will be tight, and you'll need to figure out problems that don't have a manual.
What makes that worth it: You'll own the infrastructure that qualifies every GNC component on a vehicle designed to reach GEO in under 24 hours. You'll have real ownership and real support from a sharp GNC team that ships hardware, not papers. We are building to ship, grounded on real hardware, real funding, real milestones.
Apply to contribute, or send this to the engineer you know who'd thrive here.