Simulation Engineer I, Arc Vehicle
Inversion
$71,000 - $124,000 / year
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Description
Advanced Reentry Technologies
Who We Are:
Inversion is an aerospace and defense company pioneering advanced reentry technology to enable next-generation capabilities from space. By combining high-performance materials, precision aerodynamics, and mission-driven autonomy, Inversion is transforming reentry into an operational capability for an entirely new class of missions.
The company’s highly maneuverable reentry spacecraft, Arc, is designed for rapid global cargo delivery, hypersonic testing, and other national security missions that require precise, controlled flight through the atmosphere. Arc creates an entirely new transportation domain, unlocking unprecedented speed and global reach.
Headquartered in Los Angeles, Inversion designs, manufactures, and integrates its spacecraft under one roof, enabling the company to move rapidly from concept to flight. The company is backed by leading investors including Y Combinator, Spark Capital, and Lockheed Martin Ventures, with customers across the U.S. government and commercial space industry.
Position Overview:
As a Simulation Engineer at Inversion, you will focus on developing, automating, and maintaining the simulation and testing environments that validate our flight systems. You will play a key role in bridging the gap between GNC, Software, and Simulation teams, specifically supporting the pipeline that translates MATLAB-based GNC algorithms into autocoded C/C++ flight software. Working under the guidance of senior simulation engineers, you will build tools and workflows that enable fast, repeatable verification of flight software and hardware under realistic flight conditions using Software-in-the-Loop (SIL) and Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) environments.
Key Responsibilities:
- Develop, test, and maintain simulation models for spacecraft subsystems, environmental dynamics, and hardware interfaces.
- Support the execution, automation, and scaling of Software-in-the-Loop (SIL) and Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) testing runs.
- Write and optimize data-processing pipelines and visualization scripts to analyze simulation outputs and verify vehicle-level requirements.
- Integrate internal guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) algorithms, aerodynamic databases, and sensor models into the core simulation platform.
- Develop and run automated unit tests, integration tests, and regression suites to ensure simulation platform stability.
- Maintain and troubleshoot simulation backend infrastructure, high-performance computing (HPC) nodes, and physical testbeds.
- Document simulation setups, API interfaces, and user guides to empower product engineering teams to run self-service simulation workflows.
Required Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or equivalent technical experience.
- Typically 1+ years of internship, academic research, or professional experience developing software, physics-based simulations, or numerical models.
- Proficiency in programming languages such as C++ or Python in a Linux environment.
- Strong foundational understanding of physics, classical mechanics, dynamics, and numerical analysis.
- Familiarity with standard software development practices, including version control (Git).
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills with a strong motivation to learn and take on technical ownership of complex codebases.
- Must have the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government Secret/Top Secret security clearance.
Desired Qualifications:
- Familiarity with aerospace simulation tools, physics engines, or numerical frameworks (such as MATLAB/Simulink, ROS/ROS2, or custom C++ engines).
- Familiarity with continuous integration (CI/CD) pipelines, containerization (Docker), and cloud or HPC infrastructure.
- Familiarity with hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing, processors-in-the-loop (PIL), or interfacing hardware with software simulations.
- Demonstrated technical execution through collegiate engineering teams (such as Formula SAE, rocket clubs, or robotics design groups).
- Prior internship experience in a fast-paced aerospace, robotics, or high-tech startup environment.
Our office headquarters is located in Playa Vista, CA. This position requires in office presence.
The California annual base salary for this role is currently $71,000 - $124,000. Pay Grades are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual pay will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: interviews and an assessment of several factors that are unique to each candidate, job-related skills, relevant education and experience, certifications, abilities of the candidate and internal equity.
Benefits
- stock options
About this role
Inversion is building spacecraft designed to deliver payloads anywhere on Earth in under an hour through extreme reentry conditions. As a Simulation Engineer I, you would develop and maintain the simulation environments that validate these flight systems, working at the intersection of guidance/navigation/control algorithms, flight software, and testing infrastructure. Your work would directly support the translation of MATLAB-based GNC models into production C/C++ code, and you'd own pieces of the pipeline that enable Software-in-the-Loop and Hardware-in-the-Loop testing under realistic flight conditions.
The role centers on building tools rather than flying spacecraft—you'd write data-processing pipelines, develop simulation models for subsystems and environmental dynamics, automate test execution, and maintain the computing infrastructure that powers verification. You'd need solid fundamentals in physics and dynamics, proficiency in C++ or Python on Linux, and familiarity with version control. Experience with aerospace simulation tools, CI/CD practices, or hardware-in-the-loop testing would strengthen your candidacy, as would a background in collegiate engineering teams or aerospace startups.
This is an in-office internship in Playa Vista, California with a salary range of $71,000–$124,000. You must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident and able to obtain a Secret or Top Secret security clearance due to ITAR regulations governing space technology.
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Pay for this role
$71,000 to $124,000 per year
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