Principal GNC Engineer

Executive Recruiting Group; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 210,000 - 270,000; Full time

Job summary

Executive Recruiting Group seeks an experienced Principal GNC Systems Engineer to own the guidance, navigation, and control architecture for our aircraft. This role demands hands-on experience with 6DOF simulations involving multiple interacting aircraft and ensures GNC design supports safe, predictable behavior at scale.

You will design flight control laws, sensor fusion, state estimation, and multi-aircraft validation, collaborating with avionics and systems engineering.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related discipline; advanced degree (M.S./Ph.D.) in a relevant GNC/controls discipline preferred.
• 15+ years of guidance, navigation, and control engineering experience for aircraft or unmanned aircraft systems.
• Demonstrated, hands-on experience developing and using 6 degree-of-freedom (6DOF) simulations involving multiple interacting aircraft (not limited to single-vehicle 6DOF simulation).
• Strong background in flight control law design, state estimation/navigation algorithms, and stability/performance analysis.
• Experience supporting flight test planning, execution, and data correlation back to simulation/analysis predictions.

Responsibilities

• Own the guidance, navigation, and control architecture for the air vehicle, including flight control laws, navigation/state estimation, and guidance/trajectory management.
• Design and develop control laws and guidance algorithms appropriate to the platform's flight envelope, autonomy level, and modular/mass‑production constraints.
• Define sensor fusion and state estimation approaches (e.g., GPS/INS integration, relative navigation between aircraft where applicable) supporting both single-vehicle flight and multi-aircraft operations.
• Partner with Avionics to ensure GNC algorithms are correctly implemented within the avionics hardware/software architecture and flight control computer constraints.
• Develop and maintain 6DOF simulation environments capable of modeling multiple aircraft operating simultaneously, including vehicle-to-vehicle interaction, relative positioning/separation, formation or collaborative behaviors, and deconfliction logic as applicable to the program's operational concept.
• Use multi-aircraft 6DOF simulation to design, test, and verify guidance and control behaviors under realistic mass-employment scenarios (e.g., multiple simultaneous launches/recoveries, coordinated maneuvering, formation-keeping, collision avoidance).
• Define simulation architecture (real-time vs. non-real-time, distributed/networked simulation across multiple simulated vehicles, hardware-in-the-loop integration points) suited to verifying multi-vehicle GNC behavior at scale.
• Validate simulation fidelity against flight test data and other independent analysis to ensure simulation results are credible for design and verification decisions.
• Perform stability and performance analysis (linear and nonlinear) for the flight control system across the platform's flight envelope and configuration variants.
• Analyze multi-aircraft interaction effects relevant to safety of flight, including separation assurance, wake/proximity effects (as applicable), and failure mode behavior in dense or coordinated operations.
• Support System Safety Analysis (SSA) and Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) for GNC functions, including degraded-mode behavior and fail-safe/fail-operational design considerations.
• Define GNC verification and validation (V&V) approach spanning simulation, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL), ground test, and flight test.
• Define GNC-related flight test objectives, test points, and success criteria, including multi-aircraft test scenarios where applicable.
• Support flight test planning, execution, and post-test data analysis, correlating flight results back to simulation predictions to refine models and close verification gaps.
• Lead root-cause investigation of GNC-related anomalies identified in simulation, ground test, or flight test.
• Ensure GNC algorithms and control architecture are compatible with a modular, mass-producible platform, including tolerance to manufacturing variation across vehicle-to-vehicle builds and configuration variants.
• Partner with Systems Engineering and Mission Systems to ensure GNC design supports the operational employment concepts (e.g., distributed operations, coordinated/collaborative employment) that differentiate a "massed" aircraft program from a traditional single-vehicle platform.
• Serve as the senior technical authority for GNC on the program, representing the discipline at Preliminary Design Review (PDR), Critical Design Review (CDR), and government technical interchange meetings.
• Identify and manage GNC-related technical risks, including multi-aircraft interaction risk, simulation fidelity risk, and verification schedule risk.

Skills

6DOF simulations

GNC design & flight control laws

State estimation/navigation algorithms

Stability & performance analysis

Flight test planning & data analysis

Multi-aircraft/system integration

Education

Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering

Advanced degree (MS/PhD) in GNC/controls preferred

Job description

We are seeking an experienced Principal GNC Systems Engineer who will own the guidance, navigation, and control architecture for our Aircraft. This role requires hands‑on experience building and using 6 degree-of-freedom (6DOF) simulations involving multiple interacting aircraft, not just single-vehicle GNC development, and is responsible for ensuring the platform's GNC design supports safe, predictable, and effective behavior at the scale and density implied by a "massed" aircraft concept.

Responsibilities:

• Own the guidance, navigation, and control architecture for the air vehicle, including flight control laws, navigation/state estimation, and guidance/trajectory management.
• Design and develop control laws and guidance algorithms appropriate to the platform's flight envelope, autonomy level, and modular/mass‑production constraints.
• Define sensor fusion and state estimation approaches (e.g., GPS/INS integration, relative navigation between aircraft where applicable) supporting both single-vehicle flight and multi-aircraft operations.
• Partner with Avionics to ensure GNC algorithms are correctly implemented within the avionics hardware/software architecture and flight control computer constraints.
• Develop and maintain 6DOF simulation environments capable of modeling multiple aircraft operating simultaneously, including vehicle-to-vehicle interaction, relative positioning/separation, formation or collaborative behaviors, and deconfliction logic as applicable to the program's operational concept.
• Use multi-aircraft 6DOF simulation to design, test, and verify guidance and control behaviors under realistic mass-employment scenarios (e.g., multiple simultaneous launches/recoveries, coordinated maneuvering, formation-keeping, collision avoidance).
• Define simulation architecture (real-time vs. non-real-time, distributed/networked simulation across multiple simulated vehicles, hardware-in-the-loop integration points) suited to verifying multi-vehicle GNC behavior at scale.
• Validate simulation fidelity against flight test data and other independent analysis to ensure simulation results are credible for design and verification decisions.
• Perform stability and performance analysis (linear and nonlinear) for the flight control system across the platform's flight envelope and configuration variants.
• Analyze multi-aircraft interaction effects relevant to safety of flight, including separation assurance, wake/proximity effects (as applicable), and failure mode behavior in dense or coordinated operations.
• Support System Safety Analysis (SSA) and Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) for GNC functions, including degraded-mode behavior and fail-safe/fail-operational design considerations.
• Define GNC verification and validation (V&V) approach spanning simulation, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL), ground test, and flight test.
• Define GNC-related flight test objectives, test points, and success criteria, including multi-aircraft test scenarios where applicable.
• Support flight test planning, execution, and post-test data analysis, correlating flight results back to simulation predictions to refine models and close verification gaps.
• Lead root-cause investigation of GNC-related anomalies identified in simulation, ground test, or flight test.
• Ensure GNC algorithms and control architecture are compatible with a modular, mass-producible platform, including tolerance to manufacturing variation across vehicle-to-vehicle builds and configuration variants.
• Partner with Systems Engineering and Mission Systems to ensure GNC design supports the operational employment concepts (e.g., distributed operations, coordinated/collaborative employment) that differentiate a "massed" aircraft program from a traditional single-vehicle platform.
• Serve as the senior technical authority for GNC on the program, representing the discipline at Preliminary Design Review (PDR), Critical Design Review (CDR), and government technical interchange meetings.
• Identify and manage GNC-related technical risks, including multi-aircraft interaction risk, simulation fidelity risk, and verification schedule risk.
• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related discipline; advanced degree (M.S./Ph.D.) in a relevant GNC/controls discipline preferred.
• 15+ years of guidance, navigation, and control engineering experience for aircraft or unmanned aircraft systems.
• Demonstrated, hands-on experience developing and using 6 degree-of-freedom (6DOF) simulations involving multiple interacting aircraft (not limited to single-vehicle 6DOF simulation).
• Strong background in flight control law design, state estimation/navigation algorithms, and stability/performance analysis.
• Experience supporting flight test planning, execution, and data correlation back to simulation/analysis predictions.

Preferred Requirements:

• Experience with modular, attritable, low-cost, or mass-producible aircraft programs
• Ability to obtain/maintain Secret/Top Secret/SCI clearance