Lead GNC Engineer for GPS-Denied Precision Munitions

Heaviside Industries; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Medical, vision & dental

401(k) retirement plan

Job summary

Heaviside Industries in Los Angeles, CA seeks an experienced GNC engineer to architect guidance, navigation, and control for autonomous precision munitions operating in GPS-denied and contested environments.

You will own the end-to-end GNC subsystem from design and simulation to flight test, lead state estimation with multi-sensor fusion, and develop high-fidelity 6-DOF weapon simulations, translating algorithms into real-time embedded flight code while mentoring teammates.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of GNC engineering experience on missiles, munitions, military UAS, or spacecraft, with algorithms you designed flying on real hardware.
• End-to-end ownership of a GNC subsystem: design, simulation, implementation support, flight test, and iteration.
• Deep expertise in Kalman filtering and state estimation, including multi-sensor fusion for degraded-GPS or GPS-denied operation.
• Strong foundation in classical and modern control design, flight dynamics, and 6-DOF simulation development (MATLAB/Simulink, C/C++, or Python).
• Experience with terminal guidance law design for homing, intercept, or precision strike problems.
• Experience taking GNC algorithms through Monte Carlo verification and flight test validation on defense programs.

Responsibilities

• Architect and design guidance, navigation, and control systems for autonomous precision munitions operating in GPS-denied and spectrum-jammed battlefields.
• Own guidance law development for terminal engagement: trajectory shaping, proportional-navigation-class and optimal guidance approaches, and constrained terminal conditions against fixed and moving targets.
• Design and implement state estimation and navigation filters fusing inertial, RF, and vision-based measurements for operation without GPS.
• Develop and maintain high-fidelity 6-DOF weapon simulations and Monte Carlo analysis frameworks to verify miss distance and GNC performance across the engagement envelope.
• Design flight control systems from linear analysis through nonlinear simulation, and validate through hardware-in-the-loop and flight test at DoD ranges.
• Lead flight test data analysis, anomaly investigation, and iterative refinement of GNC algorithms between test events.
• Work directly with software engineers to transition algorithms to real-time embedded flight code, and mentor engineers across the GNC team.

Skills

GNC engineering

Kalman filtering

State estimation

Control theory

6-DOF simulation

Education

MS/PhD in aerospace engineering or related field

Tools

MATLAB/Simulink

C/C++

Python

Job description

Heaviside Industries in Los Angeles, CA seeks an experienced GNC engineer to architect guidance, navigation, and control for autonomous precision munitions operating in GPS-denied and contested environments.

You will own the end-to-end GNC subsystem from design and simulation to flight test, lead state estimation with multi-sensor fusion, and develop high-fidelity 6-DOF weapon simulations, translating algorithms into real-time embedded flight code while mentoring teammates.