Melisa Magnuson
Senior Technical Headhunter, Mechanical and Systems Engineering Lead
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Looking for some Guidance…Navigation and Control Engineers?
You are not alone! Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) engineers are in very high demand across the space industry right now, particularly NewSpace. These engineers are a necessary technical expertise for all companies that have air or space crafts, including UAVs, rockets, satellites and missiles. These companies can’t hire just any GNC engineer, either. They need someone who does their work extremely well, because the work is often safety-critical (we can’t have crafts falling out of the sky or shooting in the wrong direction). This means that the really good GNC engineers – they have options when it comes to employment. So, how do you possibly become competitive as an employer with hopes of attracting top GNC talent? In this article, we’re going to explore that topic, but first – let me introduce myself.
I’m a part of a boutique headhunting firm AdAstra, founded by a SpaceX Engineer and a Talent Acquisition expert. At AdAstra we exclusively work with NewSpace and Clean Tech startups hiring top talent for executive and highly technical positions. I’m certainly no stranger to the challenges of GNC recruiting. We carefully select top tier startups as partners, and we understand the inner workings of these teams along with what makes a candidate a great fit (or not).
To find top tier talent, we conduct strategic, detailed searches to find, attract, and attain the right talent for these highly specific, technical roles. We’re committed to finding unique candidates with an entrepreneurial spirit – outside the box thinking – and ambition to shape the future.
We speak with hundreds of candidates each month and collect insights from our talent inner circle. This gives us a meaningful perspective on topics ranging from compensation trends to insights on talent desires, and forecasting shifts in the market.
Now that you have some context, let’s get back to the original topic. In the past year, our team has observed a material increase in need for Guidance, Navigation, and Control Engineers within the space industry. Onsite work is almost always a requirement, along with being able to fit within a defined compensation band.
Collectively, we’ve noticed patterns across parallel and previous search efforts. Below, I’ve outlined some findings for this unique and highly-sought after candidate pool.
First, let’s talk about characteristics of this talent pool.
Excellent GNC engineers are crucial to a space or aerospace company’s success. Our clients are specifically looking for people who can successfully own a project from cradle to grave, and have had the chance to solve extremely novel problems. This is one of the main factors that makes the work we do highly specialized, as the number of people who can do that depth and breadth of work is quite limited. As you may already know, recruiting top GNC engineers requires a high touch, custom outreach approach. These individuals are often content in their current position, and well paid for their contributions. Not to mention, they likely receive dozens of recruiter messages each week due to the demand for their skillset.
We’re also looking for self-starters. Player-coaches. People looking for extreme responsibility and ownership. This comes with the appetite to be close to the hardware, which often means being onsite consistently.
Additionally, compensation in the startup world is quite nuanced compared to established organizations. Each startup has its own unique value proposition and outside of a market rate base salary, they can also offer employees extreme upside potential with equity, ability to make massive impact, and exposure to some of the world’s most interesting tech.
We consistently speak with candidates who cannot put a dollar amount on their ability to be working on novel technologies with a mission-driven team at the top of their field. Of course, the equity pay day when a startup reaches that point isn’t so bad either! Depending on the funding stage, these roles can be high-risk and high-reward, which is another factor in finding the talent who is up for the challenge and can accept this risk within their season of life.
Now, onto the search.
As we’ve established, our talent evaluation process is wildly complex. We use a proprietary mix of technical analysis and cultural assessment initiated by creative outreach efforts. However, before this screening process can even take place, we need to find the right people – stand out amongst the noise of mass outreach – and spark enough interest to earn a phone call!
The first obstacle our team has run into is low response rates. LinkedIn is our primary sourcing tool and we leverage other platforms to find passive candidates along with those with no online presence. We’ve had the great opportunity to compare our data set to competitors and found AdAstra has a significantly higher response rate, but our response rates for GNC are still significantly lower than our other areas of search.
Once we connect with these talented individuals, we are seeing two primary themes: it’s not uncommon for GNC candidates to request remote work or hybrid flexibility and like I mentioned earlier, they’re paid very well (particularly by large tech and legacy organizations), driving up salary demands across the board.
We’ve learned one very important lesson – it’s all about timing
It’s been a rough year for the space venture capital world, although it is forecasted to rebound this year, and things like nationwide layoffs and climbing interest rates have created the perfect storm.
When candidates are surrounded by talks of recessions and layoffs, they’re more inclined to stay at their current company and generally have a lower risk appetite. While we do see established organizations regularly laying off employees, this rhetoric coupled with the VC funding uncertainty has increased hesitancy to join an early stage company.
The hesitancy towards relocating during this economic climate is another significant hurdle we’ve faced. Especially considering our clients are usually located in areas with a high cost of living and nationwide higher mortgage rates. Even across local candidates, we are still seeing an increase in demand for either fully-remote or hybrid schedules. These schedules are fairly common within the tech industry or with specialized roles, but our space hardware clients need responsible engineers onsite consistently with their hands on the tech and building the culture of the startup.
To be willing to make a move, have an onsite schedule, and/or consider a perceived higher risk startup, we are seeing candidates price themselves out of the market. We’ve already established that the candidates we are targeting have options. If they want to find a fully-remote, high-salary paying job – they’ll be able to. Finding the person at a time in their life where they can take on a new, exciting opportunity during an economic climate like this takes time, but it can be done!
The golden balance: Time vs. Quality vs. Cost
It is often taught in business school that of time, quality and cost, you can have two. You can have it fast and cheap, but you sacrifice quality. You can have it fast and high quality, but it is going to be expensive. You can have high quality and low cost, but it is going to take a long time.
What can startups do to land this talent most effectively in this market? Now that we are on the other side of an extended offer for a GNC engineer – yay! – we’ve come up with a few ideas that companies can consider using to get the talent they need, when they need it.
- Offer schedule flexibility. Most local candidates are not looking for 100% remote, but they are interested in saving 1-2 hours a day from a commute – even if just one or two days a week!
- Consider a remote start or temporary housing for your new hire. If you found your person but they can’t move right now, then consider other alternatives to get them in the door.
- Help candidates understand the value of equity. Like, really understand it. Many candidates need to be walked through the equity package to see the upside potential. Not to mention the breadth of experience and team camaraderie they will gain along the way, sell your mission!
Most importantly, start the search early. This is a small, niche group of individuals and the ball is in their court. Startups cannot afford to lack in quality and every hire is critical, so take the time you need to find the talent you need!
Looking for GNC talent?
We hope you’ve found some insights from our findings or, at the very least, know you’re not alone in the search for GNC engineers! Through our efforts, we have built a robust GNC network so please feel free to contact us if you have a need. Specifically, we have a highly-skilled team of GNC talent based in the bay area that is available so we are happy to make introductions!
This is just one example of the highly technical and executive searches we do. If you are interested in our services or want to review our current open roles, then check out our website here.
