Senior Controls Engineer - Precision Tracking & GNC

AV; Albuquerque (NM); On-site; USD 112,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical Insurance

401K with company matching

9/80 work schedule

Job summary

AeroVironment's Directed Energy Systems team seeks a seasoned Controls Engineer to advance directed energy and precision tracking technology from development to fielding.

You will design and validate closed-loop control systems, develop high-performance algorithms, and collaborate across hardware and software to deliver robust, field-ready solutions. Security clearance and US citizenship are prerequisites.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical, Mechanical, Aerospace, Robotics, Controls Engineering, or related technical discipline.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, analyze, and validate closed-loop control systems for precision pointing, tracking, stabilization, and motion-control applications.
• Develop control algorithms for high-performance gimbaled, robotic, and electro-mechanical systems.
• Apply classical and modern control techniques including feedback control, state-space methods, filtering, estimation, system identification, and trajectory generation.
• Support guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) algorithm development and integration.
• Develop models and simulations of dynamic systems to evaluate system performance, control-loop behavior, disturbances, and design trades.
• Perform signal processing and sensor-data analysis to characterize system performance and identify opportunities for improvement.
• Develop algorithms for sensor fusion, state estimation, tracking, filtering, and control.
• Analyze large datasets collected during laboratory, field, and flight testing using MATLAB and Python.
• Develop automated analysis tools and visualization methods to rapidly evaluate system and subsystem performance.
• Perform system identification and develop mathematical models using experimental test data.
• Translate system-level performance requirements into control-system requirements and design parameters.
• Support hardware-in-the-loop (HIL), software-in-the-loop (SIL), laboratory, and field testing.
• Troubleshoot complex interactions between sensors, actuators, embedded software, communications, and mechanical systems.
• Work closely with software engineers to transition algorithms and models into real-time embedded implementations.
• Support design reviews, technical reviews, test readiness reviews, and customer demonstrations.
• Document control-system architectures, algorithms, models, test results, and performance assessments.
• Support integration and field testing of Directed Energy systems at government and customer test locations.

Skills

Control systems design

GNC

MATLAB

Python

State estimation

Sensor fusion

Kalman filtering

C/C++

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical/Aerospace/Mechanical Engineering or related

Master’s degree in Controls or related field

Tools

MATLAB

Python

C/C++

Job description

AeroVironment's Directed Energy Systems team seeks a seasoned Controls Engineer to advance directed energy and precision tracking technology from development to fielding.

You will design and validate closed-loop control systems, develop high-performance algorithms, and collaborate across hardware and software to deliver robust, field-ready solutions. Security clearance and US citizenship are prerequisites.