Senior Flight Controls Engineer – VTOL GNC Lead

Valinor; Northern, New York (KY, NY); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, vision benefits for员工

401(k)

Development stipend

Unlimited PTO

Company holidays

Fertility benefits

Job summary

Valinor is building the next generation of autonomous VTOL aircraft for defense and enterprise. We're a small, technical team moving fast. Our vehicle is flying, our customers are real, and the work spans simulation to the field.

We are seeking a Flight Controls Engineer to own the guidance, navigation, and control stack on our VTOL platform. This senior IC role reports to the Chief Engineer and covers transition logic, rate controller design, aero modeling, and stability analysis, including

Qualifications

• 4+ years of hands-on flight controls / GNC experience on real flying hardware.
• Deep familiarity with PX4 open-source autopilot.
• Fixed-wing or VTOL platform experience.
• Ability to read flight logs to diagnose control system issues (PX4 log analysis).
• Familiarity with aero modeling pipelines (CFD-derived data).
• Python for log analysis, simulation, and tooling; MATLAB/Simulink for control design valued.

Responsibilities

• Own the full flight controls / GNC stack: PX4 code, VTOL transition logic, fixed-wing control laws, and multicopter controller.
• Design, implement, and tune control laws; translate designs into flight-validated parameters and tune in the field.
• Run structured flight test campaigns: define test cards, instrument logging, execute in-field and analyze results.
• Debug flight anomalies from logs; root-cause across sensor, estimator, controller, and actuator layers.

Skills

Flight controls

PX4 autopilot

VTOL/fixed-wing

Log analysis

Aero modeling

Python

MATLAB/Simulink

Field testing

Tools

Simulink

MATLAB

Job description

Valinor is building the next generation of autonomous VTOL aircraft for defense and enterprise. We're a small, technical team moving fast. Our vehicle is flying, our customers are real, and the work spans simulation to the field.

We are seeking a Flight Controls Engineer to own the guidance, navigation, and control stack on our VTOL platform. This senior IC role reports to the Chief Engineer and covers transition logic, rate controller design, aero modeling, and stability analysis, including