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Senior GNC Engineer

120k – 220kEl Segundo, CAEmbedded EngineeringOnsite2+ YOE
Summary

Designs, implements, and flies guidance, navigation, and control systems for long-endurance stratospheric aircraft, owning the full GNC stack from modeling to flight testing. Requires 2+ years experience with real aircraft/UAV GNC systems and strong dynamics/controls fundamentals.

About the role

Responsibilities

  • Design, implement, and fly guidance, navigation, and control systems for long-endurance stratospheric aircraft
  • Own the GNC stack end to end: modeling, simulation, control law design, estimation, tuning, validation, and flight test
  • Develop and maintain vehicle dynamics models and simulation environments
  • Design and tune controllers for launch, climb, station-keeping, loiter, descent, and recovery
  • Integrate GNC tightly with avionics, sensors, propulsion, and autonomy software
  • Debug and iterate rapidly using flight data, hardware-in-the-loop, and field testing
  • Support integration, production bring-up, and flight operations in the desert

Requirements

  • 2+ years working on real GNC systems for aircraft, UAVs, spacecraft, or similarly complex dynamic systems
  • Strong fundamentals in dynamics, controls, estimation, and linear systems
  • Experience with state estimation (EKF/UKF), sensor fusion, and inertial navigation
  • Experience designing and tuning control systems that fly on real vehicles
  • Comfortable working from first principles and validating with test and flight data
  • Ability to move fast, own outcomes, and troubleshoot in the field

Compensation

  • US salary range: $120,000 - $220,000 USD
  • Highly competitive equity grants
  • Top market salary and bonuses
  • Health, dental, and vision insurance
  • Daily lunch
  • Dream desk setup
Skills
GNCstate estimationEKFUKFsensor fusioninertial navigationcontrol systemsvehicle dynamicssimulationavionics
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