Senior Autonomous Drones Engineer

HyLight; Paris; On-site; EUR 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Shareholder at HyLight upon hiring

Public transport reimbursement or €800

Bike provided for commuting

Free lunch

Bi-annual offsite team trips

International team & beautiful offices

Job summary

HyLight seeks a Lead GNC Engineer to shape the control of our HyLighter autonomous airship. You will model dynamics, design control laws, and validate them through simulations and field tests.

With 6+ years in GNC and a Master’s in Aerospace, Mechanical, or Electrical Engineering, you’ll own critical flight functions from development to deployment, collaborating with embedded, hardware, and regulatory teams at our Brétigny or Paris-area base.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Aerospace, Mechanical, or Electrical Engineering.
• At least +6 years of professional experience in GNC in drone, aerospace, or automotive industries.

Responsibilities

• Model and design guidance, navigation, and control systems for the HyLighter airship.
• Develop robust flight strategies for difficult conditions and safety risk mitigation.
• Debug and integrate embedded systems, flight computers, actuators, and sensors.
• Define and conduct flight tests and simulations; document models and control laws.
• Contribute to future airship performance improvements and new flight solutions.

Skills

Simulink

Python

C/C++

MATLAB/Simulink

Data analysis

Embedded Software

Education

Master’s degree in Aerospace/Mechanical/Electrical Engineering

Tools

PX4

MAVLINK

QGroundControl (QGC)

Job description

About HyLight

Power lines, gas pipelines and railways are still inspected the way they were 50 years ago: by helicopter. Expensive, noisy, and up to a tonne of CO₂ per flight hour.

We built the alternative. The HyLighter is a 12-metre autonomous airship running on hydrogen. It flies for up to 10 hours, almost silently, and spots a 1 mm defect from 25 metres up.

But the airship is only half the story. Every flight brings back massive amounts of LiDAR, imagery and methane data, and that’s where the value is. Our AI turns it into what operators act on: 50+ types of defects detected automatically, and leaks pinpointed across their network.

It’s not a prototype. HyLighters already fly missions for France’s largest energy and rail operators and have flown over the Palace of Versailles. Backed by Y Combinator, we just raised €13M to go from 4 airships to 15.

Working at HyLight

We design, build and fly every HyLighter, and turn its data into insight, all under one roof on a former airbase. Which means:

• You own it all the way. At a big aerospace company, you’d own a small piece of one subsystem. Here, you design it, test it, stand on the airfield when it flies, and see the client act on the data it brings back.
• Weeks, not years. Ideas go from whiteboard to flight test in weeks.
• Responsibility from day one. The founders’ average age is 27. Nobody here waits for permission.

We don’t care about titles or ticking every box. We care about what you build and the perspective you bring.

Job Summary:

This role encompasses all subjects related to the Guidance, Navigation, and Control of our autonomous airship, the HyLighter. GNC is paramount to guaranteeing the perfect execution of our flights. Your mission is to enable HyLight to operate pilotless airships in diverse conditions while proving their robustness to regulatory authorities. This is a high-responsibility position that will involve close collaboration with the entire Technical and Regulatory teams.

A Note from Amine (GNC Lead)

_We have a massive challenge ahead of us: building from scratch the reliable control systems for a completely new type of aircraft, an airship. This role requires a rare balance. You need the analytical, mathematical, and scientific depth to develop complex control laws and implement them in code, alongside a natural intuition for flight dynamics and aerodynamics. At the same time, you must remain incredibly pragmatic, with the ability to be on the ground, testing rapidly, and debugging driver or electronic issues in the field._

The Mission:

Under the guidance of our CTO and in collaboration with GNC and Embedded teams, your responsibilities will include:

• Modeling & Control: Understand and model airship dynamics to design and implement control and guidance laws for mission execution.
• Robustness & Safety: Develop flight strategies for difficult conditions and design risk mitigation strategies for degraded modes.
• Hardware Integration: Debug embedded systems and implement flight computers, actuators, and various types of sensors.
• Testing & Documentation: Define and participate in flight tests and simulations, ensuring thorough documentation of implemented models and control laws.
• Future Innovation: Improve the performance of existing airships while actively participating in the design of future flight solutions.

Profile Sought:

Education: Master’s degree or equivalent in Aerospace, Mechanical, or Electrical Engineering (a PhD is a plus).

Experience: At least +6 years of professional experience in GNC within the drone, aerospace, or automotive industries.

Heritage: You have been part of a GNC or Flight Dynamics team that successfully brought a drone or aerospace product to market.

The following list of skills is exhaustive, while you may not perfectly fit with the profile, we highly value personal growth and development. We see our interns as potential future team leads at HyLight.

Technical Skills:

This is an exhaustive list of sought after skills, if you have

• Systems Mastery: Strong experience in modeling and control with demonstrated mastery of Simulink and theoretical knowledge in dynamics and automation.
• Programming: Excellent skills in Python and C/C++ , with experience in MATLAB/Simulink and autocoding practices.
• Embedded Software: Strong understanding of microcontrollers, actuators, drivers, and the implementation/verification of software on flight computers.
• Tools (Plus): Knowledge of PX4, MAVLINK, and QGroundControl (QGC) is a significant advantage.
• Data analysis, able to extract insights from flight data.

Soft Skills:

• Entrepreneurial Mindset: Methodical but enterprising, with strong self-execution and adaptation capabilities.
• Project Management: Ability to define, track, and adapt project milestones independently.
• Communication: Excellent interpersonal skills to interact effectively with internal staff and external partners.
• Enjoys hands-on work (prototyping, setup, field testing)

Languages:

English (fluent – internal communication and documentation)

What We Offer:

• Shareholder at HyLight upon hiring
• 100% reimbursement of public transport pass (Navigo) or €800/year for sustainable commuting
• Bike provided for commuting
• Free lunch
• Bi-annual offsite trips with the whole team
• Excellent work environment: international team , team events, beautiful offices on a former airbase

Why You Should Join:

• Founder Mentality: We value extreme ownership and want people who think like founders-fast decision makers, natural problem solvers, and executers.
• Ground Floor Opportunity: You’ll be helping to shape and grow a revolutionary company with the resources to back it.
• Impact & Speed: Work in a fast-paced environment where your contributions will have immediate, tangible effects on the company’s success.

Interview Process:

• Introductory phone call (20 min)
• Video interview with our CTO Josef (40 min)
• A 1 hour technical case study followed by a debrief with team members
• Reference calls
• On-site meeting with the team (1h)

Location:

• Office : Base 217, Brétigny-sur-Orge, accessible via RER C.
• Lab and Warehouse access
• You’ll work side‑by‑side with experts in embedded, aerospace, and hydrogen propulsion systems-where your impact matters from day one