Lead Flight Controls Engineer for VTOL & Autonomy (Equity)

InvestedintheMission; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 220,000 - 340,000; Full time

Job summary

Shield AI seeks a senior flight controls engineer to own the XBAT flight control system, delivering stable, robust performance across vertical takeoff, hover, wing-borne flight, and precision recovery.

You will lead high-fidelity 6DOF simulations, define verification plans including Monte Carlo analyses, and resolve simulation-to-flight discrepancies while integrating with propulsion, sensors, and state estimation. A US security clearance is required or obtainable.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in flight controls/GNC on real flight vehicles.
• Experience with control allocation design for over-actuated systems with saturation and failure accommodation.
• Strong background in flight dynamics and 6DOF simulation; control theory and nonlinear systems.

Responsibilities

• Own the flight control system for XBAT across all flight phases, delivering stable, predictable performance.
• Lead development of high-fidelity 6DOF simulation environments and verify performance predictions.
• Define and execute verification strategies: linear analysis, Monte Carlo, disturbance testing, and HIL validation.
• Diagnose simulation-to-flight mismatches and close modeling gaps.

Skills

Flight controls

GNC

Control allocation

Over-actuated systems

Flight dynamics

6DOF simulation

Control theory

Nonlinear systems

C++

MATLAB/Simulink

Python

Real-time algorithms

Security clearance

Tools

C++

MATLAB/Simulink

Python

Job description

Shield AI seeks a senior flight controls engineer to own the XBAT flight control system, delivering stable, robust performance across vertical takeoff, hover, wing-borne flight, and precision recovery.

You will lead high-fidelity 6DOF simulations, define verification plans including Monte Carlo analyses, and resolve simulation-to-flight discrepancies while integrating with propulsion, sensors, and state estimation. A US security clearance is required or obtainable.