Lead GNC Engineer – Interceptor Guidance

Approach Venture LLC; El Segundo (CA); Presencial; USD 180 000 - 240 000; Tempo integral

Vantagens oferecidas por esta oferta de emprego

Equity

Resumo da oferta

Approach Venture LLC in El Segundo, CA, seeks a Lead GNC Engineer to own the guidance, navigation, and control stack for a next-generation interceptor. You will architect GNC, build simulations, and lead a team through hardware-in-the-loop testing to live intercepts, reporting to founders and cross-functional partners.

You will develop midcourse/terminal guidance, design robust autopilots, and define interfaces with seekers and sensors. U.S. clearance eligibility is required for this role.

Qualificações

• Bachelor’s degree in aerospace, mechanical, or electrical engineering (master’s or PhD preferred).
• 5+ years of GNC experience, including algorithms flown on real hardware.
• Experience leading engineers or owning a major GNC subsystem from design to flight test.
• Deep grounding in classical and modern control theory and estimation.
• Experience building 6DOF flight simulations in MATLAB/Simulink, Python, or C++.
• Hands-on controller tuning for missiles, rockets, UAVs, or autonomous flight vehicles.
• U.S. Person status (ITAR) and ability to obtain a U.S. security clearance.

Responsabilidades

• Hire, mentor, and grow the GNC team and set priorities.
• Own the GNC architecture, roadmap, and communicate tradeoffs to founders and partners.
• Set standards for simulation, verification, flight software quality, and documentation.
• Develop midcourse and terminal guidance for fast engagements using consistent navigation methods.
• Build intercept prediction algorithms from seeker tracks and onboard estimates.
• Lead actuation architecture trade-offs across surfaces, thrust vectoring, and divert thrusters.
• Design and tune autopilots for high-G, high-rate maneuvering.
• Own the navigation filter and target state estimator (EKF/UKF).
• Define seeker-to-guidance interfaces robust to noise and latency.
• Build high-fidelity 6DOF simulations with aerodynamics and seeker models.
• Run Monte Carlo and worst-case analyses to inform vehicle design.
• Deliver real-time GNC flight software with avionics and embedded teams.
• Lead hardware-in-the-loop testing with real sensors and scene generators.

Conhecimentos

GNC engineering

Control theory

Flight simulations

MATLAB/Simulink

Python

C++

EKF/UKF

Formação académica

Bachelor's in aerospace, mechanical, or electrical engineering

Master’s or PhD preferred

Ferramentas

MATLAB

Simulink

Python

C++

Descrição da oferta de emprego

Lead GNC Engineer – Own the guidance, navigation, and control stack for a next-generation interceptor

El Segundo, California | On-site

Opportunity Summary

This role owns the complete guidance, navigation, and control stack, including the algorithms, simulation, and flight software that put the interceptor on target. You will make the foundational architecture calls across guidance laws, estimation approach, and actuation strategy, and you will set the controllability requirements that shape the vehicle itself.

Working directly with the founders and with seeker, propulsion, mechanical, and avionics engineers, you will carry GNC from simulation through hardware-in-the-loop testing to live intercepts while building and leading the GNC team.

About Us

We are a seed-stage, venture-backed defense technology company building affordable, modular interceptors for air and missile defense, with surface-launched and space-based platforms in development. The team has already demonstrated autonomous intercepts and is moving quickly from prototype hardware into flight testing from our South Bay facility. We are a small group of engineers and operators who design, build, and test in-house, with a clear path toward scaled production for government customers.

Job Duties

• Hire, mentor, and grow the GNC team, setting priorities and reviewing designs and code
• Own the GNC architecture and roadmap, and communicate tradeoffs clearly to the founders and partner teams
• Set standards for simulation, verification, flight software quality, and analysis documentation
• Develop midcourse and terminal homing guidance for fast, nonlinear engagements using proportional navigation variants or optimal control
• Build intercept prediction algorithms from seeker tracks and onboard state estimates
• Lead the actuation architecture trade across aerodynamic surfaces, thrust vectoring, and divert thrusters
• Design and tune robust autopilots for high-G, high-rate maneuvering, modeling actuator bandwidth, latency, saturation, and uncertainty
• Own the navigation filter and target state estimator (EKF or UKF), fusing seeker data with IMU, GPS, and onboard timing
• Define the seeker-to-guidance interface and keep estimation robust to noise, latency, jitter, and thermal effects
• Build and maintain high-fidelity 6DOF simulations with supersonic aerodynamics, propulsion events, actuator dynamics, and seeker models
• Run Monte Carlo and worst-case analyses that drive vehicle-level design decisions
• Deliver hard real-time GNC flight software with avionics and embedded engineers
• Lead hardware-in-the-loop testing with real sensors and scene generators, and own GNC through ground and flight test
• Set controllability requirements for the airframe, control surfaces, and propulsion, and align with propulsion on control authority and impulse timing

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in aerospace, mechanical, or electrical engineering, robotics, or a related field (master’s or PhD preferred)
• 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 grounding in classical and modern control theory, guidance, state estimation, and nonlinear dynamics
• Experience building 6DOF flight simulations in MATLAB, Simulink, Python, or C++
• Hands-on controller tuning for missiles, rockets, UAVs, or other autonomous flight vehicles
• Fluency with coordinate frames, quaternions, and navigation transformations
• U.S. Person status required (ITAR) and ability to obtain a U.S. security clearance

Preferred Experience

• Missile guidance, interceptor, or hypersonic vehicle experience
• Optimal control methods such as MPC, LQR variants, or differential games
• Radar seeker integration or seeker-in-the-loop guidance
• Embedded real-time systems, RTOS, or high-rate control loops
• Flight qualification or MIL-STD environmental testing
• Prior early-stage startup experience

Why Join Us

• Define the GNC architecture from the ground up and see it fly
• Build and lead the GNC team
• Shape the vehicle design through controllability requirements
• Direct partnership with the founders
• Early equity in a seed-stage company with a rapidly growing team
• Mission with direct national security impact

Compensation Details

$180,000 – $240,000 + equity