Junior Engine Control System & Monitoring Engineer

Here at The Exploration Company, we are building spacecrafts for humanity. About The Exploration CompanyAt The Exploration Company, we are developing, producing and operating Nyx, a modular and reusable orbital space vehicle that aims to eventually be refuelled in orbit, carrying cargo and potentially humans in the long run. The heart of a spacecraft lies in its engine, which is why we develop our own propulsion systems, aiming for the highest level of efficiency and reliability. Role SummaryWe are seeking a Junior Engine Control System & Monitoring Engineer to join the engine control and monitoring team of Storm, our high-thrust LOX/LCH4 cryogenic rocket engine. Working alongside senior control engineers, you will develop and test control and monitoring algorithms, work with the engine functional models provided by the functional team, contribute to setting up the controller development environment, and help verify the controller through Model-, Software- and Hardware-in-the-Loop testing and during engine test campaigns. This is an entry-level, hands-on role for a recent graduate with strong control fundamentals who wants to learn on real hardware and progressively grow into full ownership of safety-critical engine control functions. Key responsibilities:1. Control & Monitoring Algorithm Development• Design and implement engine control and monitoring algorithms, following the software team's rules, guidelines and auto-coding practices. • Contribute to the definition of the engine regulation strategy (thrust and mixture ratio control, chill-down, start-up and shutdown transients) together with functional and system engineers. • Support the definition of control and monitoring requirements for engine subsystems (valves, pumps, sensors, controller, software). 2. Simulation & Controller Development Environment• Contribute to setting up the controller development environment: toolchain, model and code configuration management, auto-coding chain, and the MiL/SiL/HiL simulation and test infrastructure. • Integrate the engine functional models delivered by the functional team (turbopumps, valves, combustion devices, cryogenic feed lines; steady-state, transient and chill-down) into the control design and simulation environment, deriving simplified or linearised models for controller synthesis where needed. • Run closed-loop simulations to assess controller performance, stability margins and robustness to model uncertainties. • Feed test results back to the functional team to support model correlation, and flag model limitations that matter for control. 3. Health Monitoring & Fault Management• Contribute to the engine monitoring strategy that assesses the health status of the engine and its subsystems (combustion chamber, turbopumps, valves…). • Implement fault detection and sensor validation logic for both real-time protection and post-test analysis. • Support failure mode analyses (FMEA) and the management of failure modes, paving the way for engine reusability. 4. Validation, Testing & Documentation• Prepare and run Model-, Software- and Hardware-in-the-Loop (MiL, SiL, HiL) test campaigns to verify the control and monitoring functions at each step, from Simulink model to embedded code on target hardware. • Support Storm engine and component cryogenic (LOX/LCH4) test campaigns: test preparation, on-site support, data processing and post-test analysis. • Produce clear development documentation: specifications, test procedures, test reports and justification files. What we would love to see from you:• Master's degree (or equivalent) in Aerospace, Electrical, Control or Mechanical Engineering, or a related technical discipline. • Recent graduate (or graduating within the next months); no professional experience required. A master's thesis, internship or academic project in control, propulsion or embedded systems is a strong plus. • Solid fundamentals in control theory, both classical and modern (state-space, robustnes