Autonomy & Flight Controls Lead

AIRO Group; Phoenix, Northern (AZ, KY); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

AIRO Group in Phoenix seeks a visionary Autonomy and Controls Engineering Lead to direct development of intelligent flight software, guidance architectures, and stabilization algorithms for our advanced UAS platforms. You will bridge control theory and embedded hardware, delivering safe, reliable autonomous flight through end-to-end ownership of core flight software.

Lead a fast-moving team of robotics and firmware engineers from simulation to flight testing, tune flight control systems,

Qualifications

• 5+ years building real-time control or autonomy software for robotic or aerospace systems.
• Proficient in C/C++ and Python in embedded real-time flight environments.
• Strong understanding of control theory and state estimation methods.
• Experience with open-source autopilots like PX4 or ArduPilot and with sensor fusion.
• Experience with SIL/HIL validation workflows and simulation environments.

Responsibilities

• Architect and tune flight control systems with 6-DOF stabilization loops.
• Develop GPS-denied navigation using EKF, VIO, and sensor fusion pipelines.
• Integrate and customize flight stacks (PX4, ArduPilot, ROS/ROS 2).
• Lead SIL/HIL simulation campaigns to validate critical software before flight.
• Define hardware-software interfaces for avionics, compute, sensors, and actuators.
• Mentor and scale a controls and autonomy engineering team with strong code review.

Skills

C/C++ programming

Python

Real-time control

Robotics

Education

BS/MS in Robotics/Aerospace/CS

Tools

PX4

ArduPilot

ROS

ROS 2

DDS

Job description

AIRO Group in Phoenix seeks a visionary Autonomy and Controls Engineering Lead to direct development of intelligent flight software, guidance architectures, and stabilization algorithms for our advanced UAS platforms. You will bridge control theory and embedded hardware, delivering safe, reliable autonomous flight through end-to-end ownership of core flight software.

Lead a fast-moving team of robotics and firmware engineers from simulation to flight testing, tune flight control systems,