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Senior Motor Controls Engineer

AlbedoBroomfield🇺🇸United States

Quick overview

Salary$170k - $188.3k/yr
SeniorityMid Senior
Work modeHybrid
LocationBroomfield, United States
RecruitingRoboticsComplianceC++

Job description

Be one of the Bedo 100

Albedo is making Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) mainstream, building the infrastructure to enable every satellite mission to enter this new orbital domain. We build buses, integrated satellites, and turnkey missions for customers to thrive in VLEO, below 300 km, where proximity compounds performance and drag self-cleans debris.
As part of the first 100 employees at Albedo, you will have a big impact on Albedo’s trajectory to proliferating VLEO — whether you’re advancing hardware to increase satellite longevity, scaling production for large constellations, building next-gen flight and ground software to push performance, or enabling missions that matter for national security and our day-to-day life here on Earth.
How We Operate: Albedo takes a first-principles approach — in space and in business. We move with speed, take calculated risks, and learn quickly. We use AI regularly to create leverage in every discipline across the company. We work in-person at our Broomfield, CO HQ to maximize team and company productivity. We work hard and with urgency to compound our first-mover advantage.
Who We're Looking For: Builders who want to own outcomes, not tasks. Systems thinkers who balance precision with iteration while thinking about the big picture. Individuals who are energized by creating a category rather than competing in an existing one. You’ll join a team that has already proven what others said wasn’t feasible and is now scaling and upgrading our VLEO buses & payloads to serve mission sets across sensing, communications, and responsive operations.
If you can feel the excitement running through your veins, apply to be one of the Bedo 100.

About the Role:
You'll be Albedo's primary motor-controls specialist, owning the derivation and tuning of control algorithms for BLDC- and stepper-driven mechanisms across our spacecraft. This is a controls-first role: you will develop motor control algorithms from the ground up and tune the motor controller we select / develop internally, working shoulder-to-shoulder with mechanisms, electrical, firmware, and GN&C engineers to take our actuators from bench to flight.
Your work connects directly to the performance of our vehicles. You'll design with the mission in mind — translating motion at the actuator into performance capability on orbit — so the control you build is measured by what it lets the spacecraft do.
What You'll Do:

  • Derive, implement, and tune control algorithms for BLDC/PMSM and stepper-driven mechanisms: current/torque, velocity, and position loops, from first principles.
  • Own commutation and field-oriented control (FOC): feedback selection, discrete-time control design, loop stability, and tuning across the full operating envelope.
  • Tune and validate our internally developed motor controller against performance, thermal, and reliability requirements.
  • Evaluate alternative control strategies and quantify the performance / cost / reliability trade-offs.
  • Design and run instrumented bench experiments and automated tests; characterize motors and drives from motion and current data.
  • Diagnose cross-domain issues, resonance, lost motion, feedback errors, overheating, faults — across the mechanical, electrical, and firmware boundary.
  • Build calibration tooling, telemetry, fault handling, and documentation the rest of the team can rely on.

What We're Looking For:

  • Proven ability to develop motor control algorithms from scratch, not just integrate or tune existing drives. This is the core of the role.
  • Strong controls fundamentals: motor physics, commutation and FOC, feedback selection, discrete-time control, loop stability, and tuning.
  • Demonstrated ability to achieve smooth motion at low and near-zero speeds for low-disturbance precision operation.
  • Experience across BLDC/PMSM and stepper motor topologies.
  • Experience across the full range of position/feedback sensing, from sensorless through Hall, resolvers, and incremental/absolute encoders.
  • An experimental, data-driven approach using motion data, analysis tools, and oscilloscopes.
  • Independent engineering judgment and clear communication across disciplines.

Nice to Have:

  • Embedded C/C++ and the ability to debug motor-control firmware and hardware (PWM/ADC timing, current sensing, encoder/resolver interfaces).
  • Experience designing custom motor-control electronics / servo-drive hardware, power stages, gate drives, and controller boards.
  • Familiarity with RS422 and other serial/command and differential-signaling interfaces.
  • Regenerative-energy management and EMC troubleshooting.
  • Aerospace, robotics, or other high-reliability electromechanical product experience.

Salary Range:

  • $170,000 - $188,348 per year

Compensation and Benefits for Full-Time Roles:

    • Employee friendly equity compensation
    • 4% direct matching 401k
    • Health Insurance: 100% employee coverage & 75% dependent coverage
    • Parental leave and childcare coverage
    • Flexible vacation and sick time from day one
    • 12 company holidays
    • $100 monthly wellness benefit
    • Relocation package if not based in Denver
The final compensation package is subject to change if the candidate's experience and company need drive a different job level than originally slated for the position.
Albedo does not accept agency resumes. Please do not forward resumes to Albedo employees. Albedo is not responsible for any fees or overhead related to unsolicited resumes.
AI Disclosure: We may use Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to support and enhance our recruitment process. This includes recording, transcribing, analyzing, and evaluating your interview responses to ensure accurate, consistent, and efficient assessment of job-related skills, knowledge, and abilities. While AI tools may assist in this process, our human recruiting and hiring teams make all hiring decisions. For questions about AI use in interviews, data handling, or to request accommodations, contact Hello_HR@albedo.com
Additional Requirements: In compliance with federal law, all persons hired must verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire. All persons hired will be required to be a U.S. citizen, a lawful permanent resident of the U.S., or a 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.
Equal Opportunity Employer/Veterans/Disabled: Albedo is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
Relocation: Relocation support for this position is available
Applicants must be a U.S. Person as defined under 22 CFR 120.62
#LI-Onsite
Research shows that while men apply to jobs where they meet an average of 60% of the criteria, women and other underrepresented people tend to only apply when they meet 100% of the qualifications. At Albedo, we'd rather hear from you. We care more about how you think than which boxes you check. We value people who do the math, make their assumptions explicit, and ask the annoying questions: what breaks, what's the failure mode, what has to be true for this to work? If that sounds like you, apply, even if you don't meet every line.

Compensation and Benefits for Full-Time Roles:

    • Employee friendly equity compensation
    • 4% direct matching 401k
    • Health Insurance: 100% employee coverage & 75% dependent coverage
    • Parental leave and childcare coverage
    • Flexible vacation and sick time from day one
    • 12 company holidays
    • $100 monthly wellness benefit
    • Relocation package if not based in Denver
The final compensation package is subject to change if the candidate's experience and company need drive a different job level than originally slated for the position.
Albedo does not accept agency resumes. Please do not forward resumes to Albedo employees. Albedo is not responsible for any fees or overhead related to unsolicited resumes.
AI Disclosure: We may use Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to support and enhance our recruitment process. This includes recording, transcribing, analyzing, and evaluating your interview responses to ensure accurate, consistent, and efficient assessment of job-related skills, knowledge, and abilities. While AI tools may assist in this process, our human recruiting and hiring teams make all hiring decisions. For questions about AI use in interviews, data handling, or to request accommodations, contact Hello_HR@albedo.com
Additional Requirements: In compliance with federal law, all persons hired must verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire. All persons hired will be required to be a U.S. citizen, a lawful permanent resident of the U.S., or a 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.
Equal Opportunity Employer/Veterans/Disabled: Albedo is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
Relocation: Relocation support for this position is available
Applicants must be a U.S. Person as defined under 22 CFR 120.62
#LI-Onsite
Research shows that while men apply to jobs where they meet an average of 60% of the criteria, women and other underrepresented people tend to only apply when they meet 100% of the qualifications. At Albedo, we'd rather hear from you. We care more about how you think than which boxes you check. We value people who do the math, make their assumptions explicit, and ask the annoying questions: what breaks, what's the failure mode, what has to be true for this to work? If that sounds like you, apply, even if you don't meet every line.

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