Senior GNC Engineer
Develop and deploy guidance, navigation, and control software for autonomous aerial defense systems, from quadrotors to fixed-wing UAVs. The role requires a master’s degree, 6+ years of hands-on GNC experience, C++, control systems, flight testing, and UAS platforms such as PX4 or ArduPilot.
About the job
Responsibilities
- Write software for real autonomous aircraft systems, including Group 1–5 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and simulated models supporting tactical military missions.
- Build, leverage, and improve aerial autonomy software architectures for testing and deployment on real systems.
- Design, integrate, and rigorously test guidance, navigation, and control capabilities across aerial UAS platforms, from quadrotors to long-range fixed-wing aircraft.
- Collaborate with third-party UAS vehicle vendors to integrate aerial autonomy software onto OEM hardware.
- Develop and adapt GNC algorithms for program-specific requirements and contribute reusable capabilities to the core software stack.
- Perform flight testing and data analysis.
Requirements
- Master's degree in Aerospace, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, or a similar field.
- 6+ years of hands-on experience developing GNC software for autonomous systems.
- Experience developing autonomy algorithms in C++.
- Experience developing or implementing outer-loop control systems or path-planning algorithms.
- Strong foundation in control theory, dynamics, and optimization applied to real-world autonomous systems.
- Experience developing and simulating 3DoF or 6DoF air-vehicle models for GNC algorithm development.
- Experience with flight testing and data analysis.
- Experience with UAS GNC/navigation systems such as PX4 and ArduPilot.
- Strong functional, procedural, data-oriented, and object-oriented programming experience.
- Ability to hold UK Security Clearance; current or previous clearance is preferred.
Nice-to-haves
- Experience using data visualization and debugging tools for autonomy control development.
- Experience with Docker and containerized development environments.
- Experience with Linux-based operating systems, including RHEL and Ubuntu.
- Experience with source control systems and artifact registries.
- Familiarity with software-in-the-loop (SIL) and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) development and testing.
- Experience with Bazel.
- Experience with Python, DevOps, containers, and Linux.
- Experience on national-security projects for government agencies.
- Willingness to travel between company offices and customer sites.
Compensation and Benefits
- Annual salary: £100,000–£160,000.
- Primarily in-office work five days per week, with occasional remote flexibility.
- Travel may be required for company business and customer visits.
Skills
C++, Python, Docker, Linux, Bazel, Px4, Ardupilot, Control Theory, Path Planning, Optimization, Flight Testing, Data Analysis, Sil, Hil, Git
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