Senior Staff Flight Controls Engineer – GNC Lead

Pivotal; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 240,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

401k plan

Job summary

Pivotal is seeking a Senior Staff GNC Engineer to lead flight controls across our eVTOL programs. You will set long-term technical directions, guide verification and certification, and collaborate with navigation, firmware, and flight test teams to ensure safe, precise control laws across platforms.

You will mentor engineers, drive architecture decisions, and maintain hands-on involvement with challenging problems like transition and envelope protection.

Qualifications

• Experience leading flight control law development on at least one aircraft, from design through flight test.
• Expert knowledge of aircraft flight dynamics and of classical, modern, and robust control methods.
• Proficiency in MATLAB and Simulink, and the ability to review flight software in C or C++.
• Experience with verification strategies for safety-critical flight control systems, including simulation, hardware-in-the-loop, and flight testing.
• Experience leading engineering teams and mentoring engineers across teams, influencing leadership decisions.

Responsibilities

• Set the long-term technical direction for flight controls across programs, including architecture, modes, redundancy, and failure accommodation.
• Define and guide verification and certification approaches with systems engineering and safety teams (DO-178C, DO-331, ARP4754A).
• Coordinate with navigation, autonomy, firmware, aeromechanical, and flight test teams to ensure cohesive GNC system.
• Lead the flight controls team, set priorities, mentor staff, and participate in hiring and growth of the team.

Skills

Flight controls

GNC engineering

MATLAB/Simulink

C/C++

Team leadership

Communication skills

Model-based design

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace/related field

Master’s degree or PhD preferred

Tools

MATLAB/Simulink

Git

CONDUIT

CIFER

CI/CD tooling

Job description

Pivotal is seeking a Senior Staff GNC Engineer to lead flight controls across our eVTOL programs. You will set long-term technical directions, guide verification and certification, and collaborate with navigation, firmware, and flight test teams to ensure safe, precise control laws across platforms.

You will mentor engineers, drive architecture decisions, and maintain hands-on involvement with challenging problems like transition and envelope protection.