Senior Principal Engineer, GNC & State Estimation (R6233)

Telemetry Today LLC; San Diego, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Shield AI seeks a Senior Principal Engineer to establish and lead the GNC and State Estimation direction within Hivemind Enterprise (HME). You will build a team and capabilities to enable customers to develop, validate, and deploy autonomous flight software across aircraft platforms.

With 15+ years in GNC, you will shape technical roadmap, develop algorithms, and guide critical decisions across simulation, hardware-in-the-loop, and flight testing.

Qualifications

• 15+ years in GNC domain and related aerospace disciplines.
• Proven track record delivering production autopilot or flight-control software.
• Hands-on leader capable of developing algorithms and contributing production software.

Responsibilities

• Define GNC and State Estimation technical roadmap across platforms.
• Lead and mentor a new engineering team and establish trusted relationships with GNC leaders.
• Guide development cycles from simulation to hardware-in-the-loop and flight testing.
• Drive Runtime Assurance (RTA) capabilities and airworthiness evidence for customers.

Skills

GNC

State estimation

Autonomy

Algorithms

Flight controls

Education

null

Tools

null

Job description

As a Senior Principal Engineer, you will establish and lead the technical direction of Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) and State Estimation within Hivemind Enterprise (HME). You will build the team and capabilities that enable customers to develop, integrate, validate, and deploy reliable autonomy across aircraft platforms.

You will bring at least 15 years of GNC domain experience, deep expertise in aircraft dynamics, flight controls, navigation, and state estimation, and a demonstrated record of delivering production autopilot or flight-control software. As a hands-on technical leader, you will develop algorithms, contribute production software, guide critical engineering decisions, and establish a fast, rigorous development cycle spanning simulation, hardware-in-the-loop testing, and flight testing.

Working with stakeholders across Hivemind Enterprise, Hivemind Solutions, and Shield AI’s aircraft organizations, you will define HME’s GNC and State Estimation technical roadmap and translate it into reusable platform capabilities and customer deliverables. You will help drive our Runtime Assurance (RTA) solution and deliver the required capabilities that will help our customers develop the technical evidence needed to support airworthiness of their platforms.

This role combines senior individual-contributor leadership with the opportunity to establish a new engineering team. You will attract and mentor exceptional engineers and build trusted relationships with GNC and State Estimation leaders throughout Shield AI.