Flight Controls Engineer

Estes Aerospace; Vienna (VA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Estes Aerospace seeks engineers to design and build flight control systems for rockets, guiding from concept through simulation, hardware-in-the-loop testing, and live flight tests.

You will develop and tune control laws, build high-fidelity simulations, and validate designs across the hardware/software boundary, iterating quickly based on real-world results.

Qualifications

• Strong background in control theory and flight dynamics.
• Experience implementing and validating control systems in simulation.
• Comfort working across the hardware/software boundary – you understand both the math and the implementation.
• You like to iterate fast and test often, not wait for perfection.

Responsibilities

• Design flight control systems for rockets using thrust vector control and novel actuation approaches.
• Develop and tune control laws (PID, LQR, nonlinear).
• Build high-fidelity simulations of control systems and the vehicles they fly on.
• Run hardware-in-the-loop testing to validate designs.
• See your work perform in the real world and feed results back into next design.

Skills

Control theory

Flight dynamics

Simulation

HIL testing

Iterative testing

Tools

MATLAB/Simulink

Python

Job description

You will design and build the flight control systems for rockets. You'll take your designs from concept all the way through simulation, hardware-in-the-loop testing, and live flight test.

What You'll Do

• Design flight control systems for rockets using thrust vector control, aerodynamic surfaces, andnovel actuation approaches


• Develop and tune control laws (PID, LQR, nonlinear — whatever the problem calls for)


• Build high-fidelity simulations of your control systems and the vehicles they fly on


• Run hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing to validate your designs


• See your work perform in the real world and feed those results back into your next design

What We're Looking For

• Strong background in control theory and flight dynamics


• Experience implementing and validating control systems in simulation


• Comfort working across the hardware/software boundary — you understand both the math and the implementation


• You like to iterate fast and test often, not wait for perfection


• Bonus: experience with missile guidance or state estimation

This role is for engineers who want to close the loop — not just model a system, but actually fly it. There's nothing quite like that first flight test.

Estes Aerospace is an Equal Opportunity Employer and makes employment decisions without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other protected status under applicable federal, state, or local law.

Offers of employment are contingent upon successful completion of a background check and verification of information provided by the applicant. Background checks are conducted in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws, and criminal history will be considered only to the extent relevant to the position and permitted by law.

This position is subject to ITAR requirements and can only be filled by individuals who are U.S. Persons, as defined by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, 22 C.F.R. § 120.62