Lead GNC Engineer, Guidance & Flight Control Systems

Wardstone; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Wardstone in Los Angeles, CA is seeking a Lead GNC engineer to own the guidance, navigation and control stack for interceptor systems. You will set architecture decisions, simulate performance, and drive testing from simulation through hardware-in-the-loop and live intercepts.

You will work directly with founders and with seeker, propulsion, mechanical, and avionics teams to ensure robust, real‑time flight software and verifiable design decisions.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of GNC experience, including algorithms that have flown on real hardware.
• Experience leading engineers or owning a major GNC subsystem from design through flight test.
• Deep understanding of classical and modern control theory.
• Strong background in guidance, state estimation, and nonlinear dynamics.
• Experience building 6DOF flight simulations (MATLAB, Simulink, Python, or C++).
• Hands-on experience tuning controllers for missiles, rockets, UAVs, or other autonomous flight systems.
• Fluency with coordinate frames, quaternions, and navigation transformations.
• Must be a U.S. person per ITAR and eligible for U.S. security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Lead the GNC team and mentor engineers.
• Own the GNC architecture, roadmap and design tradeoffs.
• Develop guidance laws for midcourse and terminal guidance.
• Design and tune flight control loops for high-G maneuvers.
• Own navigation and estimation, including EKF/UKF interfaces.
• Build high-fidelity 6DOF simulations and perform Monte Carlo analyses.
• Drive hardware-in-the-loop testing and live flight validation.
• Shape vehicle requirements with propulsion and airframe teams.

Skills

Guidance, navigation and control

Control theory

State estimation

6DOF flight simulations

Nonlinear dynamics

Missile/air vehicle control systems

Coordinate frames & quaternions

Education

Bachelor's in Aerospace/Mechanical/Electrical/Robotics (MS/PhD preferred)

Tools

MATLAB

Simulink

Python

C++

Job description

Wardstone in Los Angeles, CA is seeking a Lead GNC engineer to own the guidance, navigation and control stack for interceptor systems. You will set architecture decisions, simulate performance, and drive testing from simulation through hardware-in-the-loop and live intercepts.

You will work directly with founders and with seeker, propulsion, mechanical, and avionics teams to ensure robust, real‑time flight software and verifiable design decisions.