Autonomous UAS GNC Engineer — AI Edge on Jetson

Sara-Inc; Colorado Springs (CO); On-site; USD 110,000 - 175,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Disability and life insurance

401(k) match/profit sharing

Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP)

Discretionary bonuses

Job summary

Scientific Applications & Research Associates, Inc. (SARA) in Colorado Springs seeks a skilled UAS/GNC engineer. You will drive flight controller integration, autonomous navigation, and edge AI processing on embedded platforms. Opportunity to work across hardware, software, and AI teams for DoD/DoE programs.

The role emphasizes flight controller integration, sensor fusion, and real-time AI on Jetson platforms, with collaboration across disciplines and a path to leadership.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in CS/Robotics/EE/AE or related field.
• 5–7 years hands-on experience with flight controller integration and UAV software.
• Experience with NVIDIA Jetson AI acceleration, DeepStream SDK, and/or CUDA.
• Knowledge of AI-driven perception, SLAM, and real-time processing on Jetson.
• Strong proficiency in PX4, ArduPilot, MAVLink, ROS, C++, and Python.
• US Citizen with ability to obtain DoD security clearance.
• Able to perform moderate physical tasks.
• Indoor, clean, well-lit work environment.

Responsibilities

• Configure and integrate flight controllers (PX4, ArduPilot) with UAV platforms.
• Flash firmware, tune parameters, and calibrate sensors (GPS, IMU, LiDAR, magnetometer, barometer).
• Develop embedded software using C++, Python, ROS, MAVLink for Jetson AI systems.
• Implement vision/AI perception for real-time tracking and SLAM (OpenCV, TensorFlow, PyTorch, DeepStream).
• Use CUDA to optimize neural network inference on Jetson platforms.
• Establish reliable networking/telemetry (MAVLink over Wi‑Fi/LTE/5G) and video streaming (GStreamer/RTSP).
• Collaborate on mission planning and autonomous navigation (QGroundControl, Mission Planner).
• Support remote control/monitoring for UAV operations in field environments.
• Build and lead a team focused on unmanned navigation and control.

Skills

C++

Python

ROS

MAVLink

OpenCV

TensorFlow

PyTorch

CUDA

Jetson

NVIDIA Jetson

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related field

Master’s Degree in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related field

Tools

PX4

ArduPilot

MAVLink

QGroundControl

Mission Planner

NVIDIA Jetson

CUDA Toolkit

Linux (Ubuntu)

OpenCV

Job description

Scientific Applications & Research Associates, Inc. (SARA) in Colorado Springs seeks a skilled UAS/GNC engineer. You will drive flight controller integration, autonomous navigation, and edge AI processing on embedded platforms. Opportunity to work across hardware, software, and AI teams for DoD/DoE programs.

The role emphasizes flight controller integration, sensor fusion, and real-time AI on Jetson platforms, with collaboration across disciplines and a path to leadership.