Senior Autonomous Drones Engineer

present of AI; Paris; Hybrid; EUR 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

HyLight is seeking a Senior GNC engineer in Paris to lead guidance, navigation and control for a pilotless hydrogen airship. You will model aircraft dynamics, develop control laws, and translate them into robust flight software, with hands-on sensor and flight-computer debugging on the airfield.

The role emphasizes shipped flight products and regulators' safety cases, with close collaboration with an AI-centric data team to ensure safe, repeatable autonomous flights.

Qualifications

• About six years in GNC for drones, aerospace or cars.
• Ability to debug sensors and flight computers on an airfield.
• Shipped a flight product and safety case for regulators.

Responsibilities

• Center on guidance, navigation and control of a pilotless hydrogen airship.
• Model craft dynamics, write control laws and convert them into flight code.
• Assist in validating safety cases for regulators and field testing.

Skills

GNC for drones

C/C++

Field debugging

Flight software

Tools

PX4 flight stack

MAVLink

Job description

Engineering · Paris, France · Full-time · Senior level

The role centers on the guidance, navigation and control of a pilotless hydrogen airship. That means modeling how the craft moves, writing control laws, and turning them into working flight code. A strong candidate has about six years in GNC for drones, aerospace or cars, plus the willingness to debug sensors and flight computers on an airfield. Evidence of having shipped a flight product, and the ability to make the safety case for regulators, matter a lot.

How it fits the AI era

The company's AI handles the data side, finding defects and leaks in what the airship collects. This role sits on the other side: the control and autonomy that make each flight safe and repeatable. Simulation and flight data analysis speed up tuning, but proving the system behaves safely in degraded conditions still needs human engineering judgment and accountability to regulators.

How it builds AI experience

The work gives close exposure to autonomous flight, where software has to be trusted without a pilot on board. Being next to a team that turns LiDAR, imagery and methane data into automated defect detection shows how flight design affects data quality. Someone building skills here could study how flight paths and stability influence the data an inspection AI receives.

Worth showing

• C/C++ flight software
• Shipped GNC product heritage
• PX4 and MAVLink experience
• Field flight test debugging

This is our own read, written from the employer's posting and the company's Spotlight. The employer's posting is the source of truth for the role.

About HyLight

Autonomous, hydrogen-powered airships for zero-emission aerial inspection of critical energy and transport grids.