Senior Principal GNC Engineer - Autonomy & Flight Control

Northrop Grumman Corp.; El Segundo (CA); On-site; USD 114,000 - 213,000; Full time

Job summary

Northrop Grumman Corp. in El Segundo, CA, is seeking a Principal or Senior Principal GNC Engineer to advance flight control for manned and unmanned aircraft. You will develop and validate guidance, navigation and control algorithms, integrating them into real-time simulation and test environments.

The role requires strong MATLAB/Simulink proficiency, hands-on model development, and collaboration across multidisciplinary teams in a fast-paced setting.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in STEM with 5+ years' experience; or Master’s with 3+ years; or PhD with 1+ year.
• Experience with fixed-wing flight dynamics.
• Experience using linear control principles to design feedback control systems.
• Experience analyzing non-linear simulations of aircraft closed-loop dynamics.
• Working knowledge of autopilot functions and outer/inner loop control law performance requirements.
• Experience with MATLAB to create, process, analyze, and visually represent data.
• Experience using Simulink to model dynamic systems.
• Knowledge of logic, modes, and states for autonomous aircraft.
• Ability and willingness to travel up to 20% of the time.
• Current, active US Government Secret clearance or higher and SAP.

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 for guidance, navigation and control.
• Develop control laws to meet air vehicle performance, flying qualities, and stability margins.
• Design outer and inner loop control laws, and autonomy functions.
• Develop system models and integrate into SIL/HIL environments.
• Perform performance and flying qualities analyses.
• Support flight test activities and analyze test data.
• Prepare design reviews at PDR/CDR stages.

Skills

Flight dynamics

Linear control theory

Autopilot concepts

MATLAB

Simulink

Autonomous aircraft

Travel up to 20%

Education

Bachelor's degree in STEM

Master's degree in STEM

PhD in STEM

Tools

MATLAB

Simulink

C/C++

Python

Lua

Job description

Northrop Grumman Corp. in El Segundo, CA, is seeking a Principal or Senior Principal GNC Engineer to advance flight control for manned and unmanned aircraft. You will develop and validate guidance, navigation and control algorithms, integrating them into real-time simulation and test environments.

The role requires strong MATLAB/Simulink proficiency, hands-on model development, and collaboration across multidisciplinary teams in a fast-paced setting.