Flight Control Lead

Hireclout; United States; Remote; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Hireclout is seeking a Flight Controls Lead for a well-funded eVTOL startup building a two-seat personal flying vehicle. This is a clean-sheet design with eight vertical and two horizontal independently powered ducted fans, plus an AI copilot system.

The company has completed 70+ manned test flights and recently closed a major investment round. You’ll drive flight controls development as part of the founding team, owning the function from scratch rather than maintaining an existing program.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of hands-on flight controls engineering experience.
• Experience architecting a flight control system for multirotor or distributed propulsion.
• Fluent with ARP4754A, DO-178C, DO-254 and ASTM on LSA paths.

Responsibilities

• Own the fly-by-wire flight control architecture, its redundancy scheme, and the requirements that define it.
• Build the flight dynamics simulation and design the control laws, proving control authority and handling qualities.
• Design for Simplified Vehicle Operations, so the control law carries the workload and an operator with minimal training can fly it.
• Run the hardware trades and select the suppliers.
• Develop and prove the flight control system on the HIL and iron bird rigs before flight.
• Take the system from the bench through unmanned flight test to manned flight and into the production aircraft.
• Analyze flight data and update the control laws to match the aircraft as flown.

Skills

Flight controls engineering

Control law design

System-level testing

Flight test experience

AR/DO-178C knowledge

Education

Advanced degree in aerospace/electrical engineering

Tools

MATLAB/Simulink

HIL testing

Model-based design

Job description

Flight Control Systems Lead

Role Overview

We’re recruiting a Flight Controls Lead for a well-funded eVTOL startup building a two-seat personal flying vehicle. It’s a clean-sheet design with eight vertical and two horizontal independently powered ducted fans, plus an AI copilot system. The company has completed 70+ manned test flights and recently closed a significant strategic investment round.

You’d be driving flight controls development as part of the founding team. This is a build-it-from-scratch role for someone who wants real ownership over the function, not a maintenance seat on an established program.

Dedicated flight control engineering experience and hands-on eVTOL background are hard requirements here. 100% remote role with travel as needed.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the fly-by-wire flight control architecture, its redundancy scheme, and the requirements that define it.
• Build the flight dynamics simulation and design the control laws, proving control authority and handling qualities.
• Design for Simplified Vehicle Operations, so the control law carries the workload and an operator with minimal training can fly it.
• Run the hardware trades and select the suppliers.
• Develop and prove the flight control system on the HIL and iron bird rigs before flight.
• Take the system from the bench through unmanned flight test to manned flight and into the production aircraft.
• Analyze flight data and update the control laws to match the aircraft as flown.

Required Qualifications

• 15+ years in flight controls and GN&C, with hands-on control law design that has flown on a manned aircraft.
• Has architected the flight control system of a multirotor or distributed electric propulsion aircraft.
• Fluent in ARP4754A, DO-178C, and DO-254, and able to right-size that rigor to ASTM consensus standards on the LSA path.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience on a passenger eVTOL program.
• Experience with envelope protection and automatic flight modes.
• Experience with state estimation and sensor fusion.
• Has taken a flight control system into a certified production aircraft.
• Vehicle Management System experience beyond flight controls, in avionics architecture and flight software.

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