--- title: 'Controls Engineer at Salient Motion' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/controls-engineer-salient-motion-torrance-ne6rfv91cwrf' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-15' --- # Controls Engineer at Salient Motion - **Company:** Salient Motion - **Location:** Torrance, CA - **Posted:** 2026-08-27 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-15 - **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/salientmotion/jobs/5407434008 ## Job description **Applicants must be U.S. Citizens or U.S. Permanent Residents (Green Card holders) to meet customer and regulatory requirements** ## Who We Are We are pioneering modular motion technologies to power the next generation of innovation for Industrial, Aerospace and Defense. If you're excited about disrupting legacy industries, and passionate about building next generation technology, let's chat! We are at the forefront of innovation, crafting exclusive motion control components that propel the industrial, aerospace, and defense sectors into the future. A couple other things: - We are open to relocating you - We have great benefits - We are well funded, and generating revenue - We are located in beautiful Torrance, CA and just moved into a new large hangar facility Role Summary: We are hiring an entry-level Motion Control Engineer to help build and maintain the embedded firmware that powers our motion control and motor drive products. This role is built for someone with a strong software/firmware foundation, solid C, an instinct for clean system architecture, who is eager to grow into motor control and control-loop design in a fast-paced aerospace environment. You'll work alongside experienced controls and firmware engineers, turning control concepts into robust, production-quality embedded code. What you'll do: - Design, implement, and maintain embedded firmware for motion control and motor drive products, primarily in C. - Contribute to system architecture decisions for control firmware modules, with an eye toward maintainability, testability, and real-time performance. - Translate control algorithms into well-structured, production-quality firmware, working closely with senior engineering staff. - Participate in code reviews, static analysis, and unit/integration testing to uphold firmware quality standards. - Support bring-up, debug, and validation of control firmware on hardware in the lab. - Document firmware architecture, module interfaces, and design decisions. - Assist in specifying and executing firmware verification test plans. What you need: - Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field. - 2-4 years of professional experience in embedded firmware development related to Motion Control. - Strong proficiency in C, with a solid grasp of firmware/software architecture principles (modularity, abstraction layers, state machines). - Familiarity with embedded systems fundamentals: microcontrollers, interrupts, timers, and communication protocols (SPI, I2C, UART, CAN). - Strong problem-solving skills and a genuine interest in learning control theory and motor control fundamentals on the job. - Experience with version control systems (e.g., Git) and collaborative software development workflows. Nice to Haves: - Exposure to motor control concepts (field-oriented control, PWM generation, current/position sensing). - Familiarity with motion control loop design and digital filter design (PI/PID tuning, notch/biquad filters, Bode/FRF analysis). - Experience with an RTOS (FreeRTOS, ThreadX, or similar). - Familiarity with model-based design or code-generation workflows (e.g., Simulink/Embedded Coder). - Exposure to unit testing frameworks for embedded C (Unity, CppUTest, or similar). - Coursework or project experience in feedback control systems. Export Control: - This role supports aerospace programs and may involve export-controlled information or hardware. Candidates must be able to comply with applicable export control laws and access requirements. What we have to offer: We are not just building components. We are reshaping the future of the Aerospace and Defense component industry, which is a $300B+ market! Come join us and help build next generation systems that will make a massive impact at global scale. - We offer competitive compensation: $120,000 to $140,000 base salary + equity - Exceptional healthcare benefits, Medical is 100% covered by the company - Flexible PTO - 401K - More to come! ## About Salient Motion ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Salient Motion designs and manufactures critical electromechanical actuation systems for commercial aviation and defense, replacing legacy supply chains with modular, software-defined motion control. - **Entity Type**: Private (Seed stage) - **Headquarters**: Torrance, California, USA - **Founded**: 2022 - **Founders**: Vishaal Mali (CEO) ## Core Business - **Primary Industry**: Aviation and Aerospace Component Manufacturing, Defense - **Target Customers**: OEMs (e.g., Boeing), MROs, and defense contractors for commercial airliners and military platforms (B2B, Enterprise) - **Mission**: To change the paradigm of legacy aerospace and defense supply chains, unlocking a new era of speed, innovation, and possibility. ## Products & Services - **Critical Actuation Systems**: Advanced electromechanical actuators (linear and rotary) for flight control, landing gear, and other mission-critical functions on commercial and military aircraft. - **Software-First Architecture**: A modular, software-defined actuation platform that decouples control logic from hardware. Core motor control software is certified to DO-178C standards as a reusable library, enabling rapid configuration and validation across platforms. - **Certification Services**: Certification-centric engineering built from day one, aiming for up to 10x reductions in cost and lead time for certifiable products. - **Support & Sustainment**: Direct, fast, and personal support for integration, troubleshooting, and sustainment of actuation systems. ## Market Standing - **Valuation**: Not disclosed - **Key Metric**: Total Funding of **$4.0M** (Seed round led by Cantos VC in October 2024, with participation from AE Ventures and Ian Rountree; a Pre-Seed round occurred in November 2022) - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Cantos (Lead), AE Ventures, Ian Rountree. Key customer/partner: **Boeing** (collaborating on certifying modular actuators for commercial airliners). - **Growth Signals**: Headcount of ~30 employees with +15.2% monthly growth; talent sourced from Anduril Industries, Boeing, Virgin Galactic, and other top aerospace/defense firms; active job postings increasing +200% month-over-month; expansion to a second office in Irvine, CA. ## Competitive Advantages - **Software-First Modularity**: Their core differentiator is a software-defined architecture that is certified as a reusable library (DO-178C). This allows for rapid, low-cost configuration for different aircraft platforms, offering a 10x improvement in lead time and cost over legacy suppliers. - **Vertically Integrated Supply Chain**: Streamlined engineering workflows and vertically integrated partnerships enable delivery of actuator systems in weeks, not quarters. - **Certification-First Approach**: All systems are designed with certification in mind from day one, drastically reducing the time and cost to achieve airworthiness. - **Legacy Disruption**: They offer a direct alternative to high-cost, slow-moving legacy OEM suppliers, providing certified solutions without overhead markup. ## Strategic Focus - **Scale Production**: Moving from design and prototyping to manufacturing and delivery at scale, as evidenced by hiring for Senior Manufacturing Engineer and Quality Manager roles. - **Expand Customer Base**: Deepening the partnership with Boeing while expanding to other commercial and defense OEMs. - **Domestic Supply Chain**: Developing motors and inverters using domestic resources to meet national security imperatives. - **Platform Development**: Refining their core "electric motion operating system," including standalone inverters, web-based configuration platforms, and performant motors. ## Why Work Here - **High-Impact Work**: Employees solve some of the hardest motion control challenges in aerospace and defense, with work that directly impacts millions of daily passengers. - **Culture**: Described as a high-velocity environment emphasizing "Extreme Entrepreneurship," "Execution Over Excuses," and "Mastery Over Ego." The culture values ownership, creativity, and a relentless focus on execution. - **Strong Talent Pool**: Team includes veterans from Anduril, Boeing, Virgin Galactic, and SpaceX, providing a steep learning curve and high-performance peer group. - **Work Policy**: **In-Office** (Torrance, CA and Irvine, CA). The company explicitly values in-person collaboration. - **Growth Trajectory**: Early-stage (Seed) with rapid headcount growth, offering significant upside and career acceleration for early employees. ## Sources 1. [salientmotion.com](https://salientmotion.com/) 2. [salientmotion.com](https://salientmotion.com/careers) 3. [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/salient-motion) 4. 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