Real-Time UAV Autonomy Engineer

Airobotics; United States; On-site; USD 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Airobotics is seeking a Real Time Engineer to advance mission control logic for autonomous drone systems. You will bridge theory and field operations, implementing real-time flight and autonomy software and working closely with hardware on SITL and real hardware.

You will integrate with Pixhawk and NVIDIA Jetson, tune control loops (PID), and ensure robust MAVLink communications. Prior hands-on experience in aviation/robotics and C/Python proficiency are required.

Qualifications

• 4 years of engineering experience, with a focus on aviation, robotics, or real-time control systems.
• Proficiency in C and Python for real-time applications (threading, multiprocessing).
• Hardware Integration: Experience working with Pixhawk autopilots and NVIDIA Jetson platforms.
• Control Theory: Solid grasp of PID loops, coordinate frames (NED/ECEF), and navigation math.

Responsibilities

• Guidance & Logic: Implement and refine real-time flight, navigation strategies, and autonomy software for unmanned aerial systems (UAS).
• System Integration: Integrate autonomy with Pixhawk flight controllers and NVIDIA Jetson onboard computers, managing the state machine that dictates vehicle behavior.
• Simulation & Testing: Standardize SITL (Software In The Loop) environments to create deterministic test beds that mirror field conditions.
• Field Operations: Participate in field trials to validate logic on real hardware, debugging interactions between software, sensors, and aerodynamics.
• Protocol Management: Optimize MAVLink communications between the mission computer and the flight controller.
• Modernization: Maintain critical control loops while implementing modern, asynchronous architectures.

Skills

Real-time systems

C programming

Python programming

Aviation experience

Robotics

PID control

Navigation math

Coordinate frames (NED/ECEF)

Tools

Pixhawk

NVIDIA Jetson

ArduPilot/PX4

MAVLink

SITL

Job description

Airobotics is seeking a Real Time Engineer to advance mission control logic for autonomous drone systems. You will bridge theory and field operations, implementing real-time flight and autonomy software and working closely with hardware on SITL and real hardware.

You will integrate with Pixhawk and NVIDIA Jetson, tune control loops (PID), and ensure robust MAVLink communications. Prior hands-on experience in aviation/robotics and C/Python proficiency are required.