Lead Guidance, Navigation, and Controls Engineer

Wardstone

Los Angeles (CA)

On-site

USD 180,000 - 240,000

Full time

3 days ago

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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

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.