Principal GNC Engineer
Core
Define, develop, and flight-prove the GNC architecture for autonomous aircraft and defense platforms, owning system-level technical decisions from design through flight qualification.
Role type
Principal GNC Engineer (hands-on IC with technical leadership)
Builds
Autonomous defense platforms (aircraft, missiles, UAVs)
Domain
Defense / Aerospace / Autonomous Systems
Deliverable
production ML models | product features
Required skills
GNC architecture design, flight dynamics, stability and control, state estimation, trajectory generation, system identification, nonlinear control, embedded real-time software, SIL/HIL verification, flight-test practices, requirements-based verification, Monte Carlo analysis, C/C++
Preferred skills
Adaptive control, model-predictive control, robust control, control allocation, tightly coupled GNSS/INS, multi-sensor fusion, terrain/vision-aided navigation, seeker/radar/EO/IR integration, PX4/ROS 2, real-time OS, DO-178C, digital twins
Technologies
MATLAB/Simulink, C, C++, Git, CFD, wind-tunnel tools, telemetry analysis tools
Responsibilities
Own end-to-end GNC architecture and technical roadmap; translate mission objectives into GNC requirements and performance budgets; design and mature guidance algorithms, control laws, and state-estimation solutions; lead flight-dynamics modeling, system identification, and model correlation; establish SIL/HIL verification workflows; drive production implementation of flight-critical algorithms; define flight-readiness criteria and lead test planning and anomaly resolution; mentor engineers and establish reusable GNC methods and standards.
Seniority
Principal, hands-on IC with technical leadership
