Lead Guidance, Navigation, and Controls Engineer

Wardstone; El Segundo (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Wardstone is seeking a senior GNC leader in El Segundo to own guidance, navigation, and control software and to drive architecture from simulation to live intercepts. You will work closely with founders and software, seeker, propulsion, and avionics teams to deliver robust, high-G flight control for precision guidance systems.

You will build 6DOF simulations, tune controllers for demanding trajectories, and ensure real-time performance.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of GNC experience with algorithms 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.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and grow the GNC team including hiring, setting priorities, and reviews.
• Own the GNC architecture and roadmap and communicate tradeoffs to founders and teams.
• Set standards for simulation, verification, flight software quality, and documentation.
• Design guidance laws for midcourse and terminal guidance under high-speed nonlinear dynamics.
• Develop intercept prediction algorithms from seeker tracks and onboard state estimates.
• Lead actuation architecture trade, design and tune robust control loops, model actuator bandwidth and latency.
• Own navigation filter and target-state estimator, integrate seeker tracks with IMU, GPS, and timing.
• Build high-fidelity 6DOF simulations and run Monte Carlo analyses.
• Deliver real-time GNC flight software and lead hardware-in-the-loop testing.
• Lead GNC through ground and flight tests, tuning, data collection, and post-flight analysis.
• Shape vehicle controllability requirements with propulsion and airframe teams.

Skills

GNC leadership

control theory

state estimation

nonlinear dynamics

Education

B.S. in engineering

M.S./Ph.D. preferred

Tools

MATLAB

Simulink

Python

C++

Job description

Overview

You will own Wardstone’s guidance, navigation, and control stack, including the algorithms, simulations, and flight software that make our interceptors hit their targets.

You’ll make the core architecture decisions, including the guidance laws, the estimation approach, and the actuation strategy. You’ll set the controllability requirements that shape the vehicle. You’ll work directly with the founders and with the seeker, propulsion, mechanical, and avionics engineers. You’ll take GNC from simulation through hardware-in-the-loop testing to live intercepts.

What You’ll Do

Lead the GNC team

• Lead, mentor, and grow the GNC team, including hiring, setting priorities, and reviewing designs and code.
• Own the GNC architecture and roadmap, and give clear tradeoffs to founders and other teams.
• Set the team’s standards for simulation, verification, flight software quality, and analysis documentation.

Develop guidance

• Design guidance laws for midcourse and terminal homing under high-speed, nonlinear dynamics, such as proportional navigation and its variants, or optimal control methods.
• Develop intercept prediction algorithms from seeker tracks and onboard state estimates.

Design flight control

• Lead the actuation architecture trade, such as the vehicle ADB, aerodynamic control surfaces, thrust vectoring, or divert thrusters.
• Design and tune robust control loops for high-G, high-rate maneuvers.
• Model actuator bandwidth, latency, saturation, and uncertainty.

Own navigation and estimation

• Own the navigation filter and target-state estimator (EKF/UKF), fusing seeker tracks with IMU, GPS, and onboard timing.
• Work with the seeker team to define the seeker-to-guidance interface. Make sure estimation stays reliable under noise, latency, jitter, and thermal effects.

Build simulation and analysis

• Build and maintain high-fidelity 6DOF simulations, including supersonic aerodynamics, propulsion events, actuator dynamics, and seeker models.
• Run Monte Carlo and worst-case analyses to drive vehicle design decisions.

Test and fly

• Deliver GNC flight software that meets hard real-time constraints, working with avionics and embedded engineers.
• Lead hardware-in-the-loop testing with real sensors and scene generators.
• Lead GNC through ground and flight tests, including tuning, data collection, and post-flight analysis.

Shape the vehicle

• Set controllability requirements that shape the airframe, control surfaces, and propulsion.
• Work with propulsion on control authority and impulse timing.

Required Qualifications

• B.S. in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, or a related field. M.S. or Ph.D. 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 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 as defined by ITAR (U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual). [Must be eligible to obtain a U.S. security clearance.]

Nice to Have

• Experience with missile guidance, interceptors, or hypersonic systems.
• Experience with optimal control (MPC, LQR variants, differential games).
• Experience with radar seeker integration or seeker-in-the-loop guidance.
• Experience with embedded real-time systems, RTOS, or high-rate control loops.
• Experience with flight qualification or MIL-STD environmental testing.
• Prior early-stage startup experience.

Compensation

The base pay range for this role is $180,000-240,000 per year.