Principal Systems Engineer - Guidance & Control

Edge Group; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 420,000 - 900,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Family visas

Annual flight tickets

Medical insurance for you and depend..

Education allowances for children

Tax-free salaries

Job summary

EDGE Group PJSC seeks a Principal Systems Engineer - Guidance & Control to lead the derivation of requirements, design inner- and outer-loop control laws, and develop guidance algorithms for complex autonomous systems in the UAE. You will supervise model-based analyses, verification activities, and flight-test support in a high-technology defence environment.

Ideal candidates hold a 10+ year track record in aerospace or safety-critical control systems, with a Master/PhD preferred, and fluent

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in aerospace or related discipline.
• Master’s degree or PhD preferred.
• 10+ years of relevant aerospace or safety-critical control-system experience.
• Professional proficiency in written and spoken English.
• Ability to lead significant Guidance & Control work packages.

Responsibilities

• Derive G&C requirements from aircraft, mission, safety, operational, and flying-quality requirements.
• Define functional and performance requirements for control laws, guidance, autopilot, and control allocation.
• Develop control-law architectures, mode structures, command hierarchies, and interfaces.
• Define required state, sensor, navigation, actuator, propulsion, and configuration inputs and outputs.
• Design inner-loop stabilization and outer-loop command functions.
• Develop longitudinal, lateral-directional, and coupled-axis control laws.
• Develop gain schedules and scheduling-variable logic across the operating envelope.
• Develop envelope protection, command limiting, reconfiguration, and degraded-mode functions.
• Design guidance algorithms for applicable mission phases.
• Ensure guidance commands are dynamically feasible and compatible with vehicle and control limits.
• Develop control-allocation and effector-management algorithms.
• Develop trim, linear, control-oriented, uncertainty, and frequency-response models.
• Perform modal, eigenvalue, time-domain, frequency-domain, and nonlinear analyses.
• Establish margins for gain, phase, delay, disk, multiloop, and robustness.
• Assess actuator activity, sensor-noise transmission, disturbance rejection, structural-mode interaction, and nonlinearities.
• Define verification cases, acceptance criteria, coverage, and evidence.
• Conduct linear, nonlinear, Monte Carlo, worst-case, failure-case, and sensitivity analyses.
• Support SIL, PIL, HIL, pilot-in-the-loop, ground, and flight testing.
• Compare reference models with production-software implementation.
• Assess timing, numerical precision, execution order, initialization, and interface behavior.
• Produce control-law design descriptions, guidance reports, robustness assessments, verification reports, release notes, and limitation statements.
• Mentor engineers and conduct technical peer reviews.

Skills

Leadership

Requirements derivation

Control-law design

Guidance & Control

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace, Aeronautical, Electrical, Mechanical, Control, Robotics, Applied Mathematics, or a closely related discipline

Master’s degree or PhD in Flight Control, Guidance, Control Systems, Aerospace Engineering, Autonomous Systems, Robotics, or a related field (preferred)

Job description

Principal Systems Engineer - Guidance & Control

Date: 3 Sept 2026

Company: EDGE Group PJSC

ABOUT EDGE

Headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, EDGE is a leading advanced technology group working at the forefront of defence and emerging technologies. Spanning more than 35 specialised companies and multiple centres of excellence, we are purpose-built to move fast. Free from heavy legacy processes, we give our people the autonomy, accountability, and agility to bring breakthrough technologies from concept to reality.

Together, we are shaping the future.

ABOUT THE ROLE

ADASI is the regional leader in autonomous systems and services, dedicated to offering holistic solutions – from the development and production of unmanned systems to joint mission analysis and careful equipment acquisition. ADASI manufactures, operates and maintains next-generation autonomous solutions for air, land and sea – capable of performing in a diverse range of demanding environments. Leveraging advanced technologies to comply with the tactical demands of the future, ADASI aims to be a world leader in building the next generation of autonomous capabilities.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Requirements & Architecture

• Derive Guidance & Control requirements from aircraft, mission, safety, operational, and flying-quality requirements.
• Define functional and performance requirements for control laws, guidance, autopilot, and control allocation.
• Develop control-law architectures, mode structures, command hierarchies, and signal interfaces.
• Define required state, sensor, navigation, actuator, propulsion, and configuration inputs and outputs.

Control-Law Design

• Design inner-loop stabilization and outer-loop command functions.
• Develop longitudinal, lateral-directional, and coupled-axis control laws.
• Develop gain schedules and scheduling-variable logic across the operating envelope.
• Develop command shaping, reference models, feedforward, feedback, trim, and disturbance-rejection functions.
• Develop envelope protection, command limiting, reconfiguration, and degraded-mode functions.

Guidance & Control Allocation

• Design guidance algorithms for applicable mission phases.
• Ensure guidance commands are dynamically feasible and compatible with vehicle and control limits.
• Develop control-allocation and effector-management algorithms.

Modeling & Analysis

• Develop trim, linear, control-oriented, uncertainty, and frequency-response models.
• Perform modal, eigenvalue, time-domain, frequency-domain, and nonlinear analyses.
• Establish appropriate gain, phase, delay, disk, multiloop, and robustness margins.
• Assess actuator activity, sensor-noise transmission, disturbance rejection, structural-mode interaction, and system nonlinearities.

Verification & Validation

• Define verification cases, acceptance criteria, coverage, and evidence.
• Conduct linear, nonlinear, Monte Carlo, worst-case, failure-case, and sensitivity analyses.
• Support SIL, PIL, HIL, pilot-in-the-loop, ground, and flight testing.
• Compare reference models with production-software implementation.
• Assess timing, numerical precision, execution order, initialization, and interface behavior.

Troubleshooting & Flight Test

• Investigate oscillations, instability, saturation, trajectory errors, mode-transition issues, and simulation/test discrepancies.
• Support ground and flight-test planning, including test conditions, maneuvers, safety limits, excitation design, and success criteria.
• Monitor flight-test behavior and correlate predictions with ground- and flight-test evidence.

Documentation & Reviews

• Produce control-law design descriptions, guidance reports, robustness assessments, verification reports, release notes, and limitation statements.
• Support AoA, SRR, SFR, PDR, CDR, TRR, flight-readiness, qualification, FCA, PCA, MRR, and PRR activities.
• Maintain control-law build, release, and configuration records.
• Mentor engineers and conduct technical peer reviews.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace, Aeronautical, Electrical, Mechanical, Control, Robotics, Applied Mathematics, or a closely related discipline.
• Master’s degree or PhD in Flight Control, Guidance, Control Systems, Aerospace Engineering, Autonomous Systems, Robotics, or a related field is preferred.
• Typically, 10+ years of relevant aerospace or comparable safety-critical control-system experience.
• Professional proficiency in written and spoken English.
• Demonstrated ability to lead significant Guidance & Control work packages with limited supervision.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

Master’s degree or PhD in Flight Control, Guidance, Control Systems, Aerospace Engineering, Autonomous Systems, Robotics, or a related field.

WHY CHOOSE EDGE

Launched in November 2019, the UAE's EDGE is one of the world's leading advanced technology groups, established to develop agile, bold and disruptive solutions for defence and beyond, and to be a catalyst for change and transformation. It is dedicated to bringing breakthrough innovations, products, and services to market with greater speed and efficiency, to position the UAE as a leading global hub for future industries, and to creating clear paths within the sector for the next generation of highly skilled talent to thrive.

At EDGE, the real investment goes beyond compensation. Through our dedicated learning academy and digital learning platforms, employees have access to extensive opportunities to develop new skills, deepen their expertise, and advance their careers. Combined with the freedom to innovate, strong career support, and the opportunity to collaborate with world-class talent from across the globe, EDGE is a place where you can continue to grow, keep learning, and turn ambitious ideas into meaningful outcomes.

Working at EDGE also comes with a package that genuinely reflects how much we value our people. Salaries are highly competitive and tax-free and, depending on your role and seniority, benefits can include family visas, annual flight tickets, medical insurance for you and your dependents, and education allowances for your children.

CANDIDATE PRIVACY & EQUAL OPPORTUNITY STATEMENT

If you feel your skills, experience and potential match for a role, we encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet every requirement. We are genuinely interested in what you can bring to EDGE.

Any information you share as part of your EDGE candidate profile or job application will be handled in accordance with applicable data protection and privacy regulations.

EDGE is an equal opportunity employer committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and high-performing workforce. We believe every individual deserves to be treated with fairness, respect and dignity, and our employment decisions reflect that. We do not discriminate based on race, colour, nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender, marital status, age, disability, pregnancy or parental status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

As a global organisation, effective collaboration across international teams is central to how we work, so English proficiency is required for all roles unless otherwise stated in the job posting.

Please note that EDGE does not accept unsolicited resumes from recruitment agencies. Any resumes in the absence of a formally executed agreement in place will be deemed the property of EDGE, and no placement fees or compensation will be payable in respect of such submissions.