Senior Flight Controls Engineer
Designs, implements, and tunes flight control algorithms for autonomous fixed-wing and VTOL aircraft, owning the full lifecycle from simulation to flight testing. Requires strong control theory fundamentals, C++/Python experience in real-time systems, and hands-on testing expertise.
About the job
What You'll Do
- Design, implement, and tune flight control algorithms for autonomous fixed-wing and VTOL aircraft.
- Own control laws end to end, including requirements definition, simulation, flight code, and validation.
- Develop and maintain control system models in simulation environments to support analysis and testing.
- Analyze flight test data and logs to diagnose issues and improve performance.
- Collaborate closely with avionics, autonomy, mechanical, and flight test teams to integrate and validate control systems.
- Support ground and flight testing, including on-site test campaigns when needed.
- Continuously improve robustness, fault tolerance, and performance across a growing operational envelope.
What You'll Bring
- Strong fundamentals in control theory, dynamics, and state estimation.
- Experience implementing flight or vehicle control systems in production code.
- Comfort working in C++ and Python in embedded or real-time systems.
- Hands-on experience with simulation, controller tuning, and flight or field testing.
- Ability to reason from first principles and debug complex, cross-disciplinary problems.
- Comfort operating in an early-stage environment with incomplete requirements and fast iteration cycles.
Bonus Points
- Experience with UAVs, aerospace systems, or autonomous vehicles.
- Familiarity with PX4, ArduPilot, or similar flight control stacks.
- Experience with hardware-in-the-loop or software-in-the-loop testing.
- Background in fixed-wing, VTOL, or hybrid aircraft control systems.
Skills
C++, Python, Control Theory, Px4, Ardupilot, Simulation, State Estimation, Flight Control Algorithms, Vtol, Embedded Systems
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