GNC Engineer
On-site · New York City, New York, United States
Job Summary
Senior Flight Controls & GNC Engineer responsible for owning the guidance, navigation, and control stack on a VTOL platform. Own PX4-based flight controls, VTOL transition logic, and fixed-wing control laws; design, implement, and tune control laws with field testing and data-driven analysis. Build and maintain a flight dynamics model; extract aerodynamic coefficients from flight data and CFD outputs; develop a Simulink-based 6DOF simulation environment for control prototyping and stability analysis. Collaborate on autopilot integration, sensor fusion (EKF tuning, IMU/GPS/baro), and detector configurations. Require 4+ years of hands-on flight controls experience, PX4 familiarity, VTOL/fixed-wing experience, ability to read flight logs, and strong Python/MATLAB/Simulink skills. Eligible to obtain/maintain U.S. security clearance (active preferred).
Required Qualifications
- 4+ years of hands-on flight controls or GNC engineering experience on real flying hardware
- Deep familiarity with PX4 (or comparable open-source autopilot)
- Experience with fixed-wing or VTOL platforms
- Ability to read and interpret flight logs to diagnose control system issues (PX4 log analysis, PlotJuggler)
- Familiarity with aerodynamic modeling pipelines (CFD output → stability derivatives → flight dynamics model)
- Scripting ability in Python for log analysis, simulation, and tooling; MATLAB/Simulink experience for control design and 6DOF modeling
- Strong fundamentals: classical and modern control theory, rigid body dynamics, state estimation
- Comfortable in the field — you've executed flight tests
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