Senior Principal Engineer - Guidance Navigation Controls (Project Talon)

0090 CORP-Corporate Office; United States; On-site; USD 142,200 - 213,400; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance coverage

Life and disability insurance

Savings plan

Company-paid holidays

Paid time off

Job summary

0090 CORP-Corporate Office is seeking a qualified candidate for developing flight control algorithms for autonomous aircraft. The role involves designing, testing, and verifying control systems while ensuring compliance with performance and stability margins.

Ideal candidates possess a STEM degree and relevant experience in fixed-wing aircraft dynamics, with knowledge of MATLAB, Simulink, and programming skills in C/C++ and Python. Security clearance at Secret level is necessary for this position.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant STEM discipline with 8 years of related experience.
• Current active US Government Secret clearance or higher.
• Programming in C/C++ and Python.

Responsibilities

• Support research and development of flight control algorithms.
• Design, develop, implement, verify, and test algorithms.
• Support flight test activities and analyze flight test data.

Skills

Fixed-wing aircraft flight dynamics

Linear control principles

Non-linear simulations

MATLAB

C/C++ programming

Python programming

Control laws design

Lua scripting

Education

Bachelor’s degree in a relevant STEM discipline

Master’s degree in related field

PhD in relevant field

Tools

Simulink

Stateflow

Job description

Relocation Assistance

Relocation assistance may be available.

Security Clearance & Travel

Clearance required for start: Yes (Secret). Travel: Yes, 25% of the time.

Responsibilities

• Support research and development of flight control algorithms for manned and unmanned air vehicles.
• Design, develop, implement, verify, and test algorithms, software, and simulation tools to perform guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) of autonomous unmanned aircraft.
• Develop control laws to meet air vehicle performance, flying qualities and stability margin requirements, both on ground and in flight.
• Design outer and inner loop control laws, and associated logic and autonomy functions.
• Develop air vehicle system linear and non-linear dynamic simulation models and integrate models into software and hardware-in-the-loop simulation environments.
• Perform performance and flying qualities analysis.
• Support non-linear simulation and hardware-in-the-loop lab testing.
• Support flight test activities and analyze air vehicle flight test data.
• Develop analysis to support design reviews at different stages in a development program, such as PDR, CDR, etc.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant STEM discipline with 8 years of related experience; OR Master’s degree with 6 years; OR PhD with 4 years.
• Experience with fixed-wing aircraft flight dynamics.
• Using linear control principles and tools to design feedback control systems.
• Analyzing non-linear simulations of aircraft closed-loop dynamics.
• Autopilot functions, outer/inner loop control law performance requirements.
• Using MATLAB to create, process, analyze, and visually represent data.
• Using Simulink to model dynamic systems and Stateflow for autocoding.
• Designing autopilot functions, logic, modes, and states for autonomous aircraft.
• Programming in C/C++ and Python.
• Current active US Government Secret clearance or higher, with ability to obtain Special Program Access (SAP).

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience designing control laws for fixed-wing aircraft and performing handling qualities analysis.
• Working knowledge of MIL-STD-1797 flying qualities requirements.
• Experience with autonomy algorithms such as autonomous taxi, take-off, and landing.
• Experience with Lua scripting.
• Working knowledge of SAE-94910 performance requirements.

Salary

Primary level salary range: $142,200.00 - $213,400.00. Overtime, shift differential, and discretionary bonuses may be offered.

Benefits

Health insurance coverage, life and disability insurance, savings plan, company-paid holidays, and paid time off (vacation and personal business). Employees may be eligible for overtime, shift differential, and discretionary bonuses. Employees in VP or director positions may be eligible for long-term incentives.

EEO Statement

Northrop Grumman is an Equal Opportunity Employer, making decisions without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, national origin, age, veteran status, disability, or any other protected class. For our complete EEO and pay transparency statement, please visit http://www.northropgrumman.com/EEO.

Citizenship Requirement

U.S. citizenship is required for all positions with a government clearance and certain other restricted positions.