Staff Flight Controls GNC Engineer (VTOL)

Pivotal; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 176,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Pivotal is seeking a Staff GNC Engineer to lead flight control law work for VTOL/rotorcraft. You will own inner/outer loop architectures, define design criteria, and guide verification from simulation to flight test.

You will mentor engineers and work with navigation, firmware, aeromechanical, systems engineering, safety, and flight test teams to deliver robust control solutions. Ideal candidates have extensive flight control experience, strong MATLAB/Simulink skills, and hands-on flight test

Qualifications

• 8+ years in flight controls or GNC with a relevant degree
• Experience taking flight control laws from design to flight test
• Deep understanding of aircraft flight dynamics (modeling, linearization, stability)
• Strong command of classical and modern control theory (frequency-domain, state-space, robustness)
• Experience designing/tuning multi-loop architectures (e.g., cascaded loops, model following)
• Experience with frequency-domain analysis and system identification from test data
• Proficiency in MATLAB/Simulink for control design, modeling, and simulation
• Proficiency in Python or MATLAB for flight data analysis and in C/C++ for app code
• Strong communication skills for presenting trade-offs and recommendations to engineers/leadership

Responsibilities

• Own the inner- and outer-loop flight control law architectures, including gain scheduling, control modes, and envelope protection
• Define criteria to evaluate control designs (stability margins, bandwidth, disturbance rejection, handling)
• Design/tune control laws across flight envelope, including fault conditions, using frequency-domain methods and CONDUIT
• Plan/lead system identification from flight/ground data using CIFER
• Use results to validate/improve flight dynamics models and simulation environment
• Define flight control requirements with systems engineering and safety teams
• Set verification strategy (linear analysis, Monte Carlo, worst-case, HIL, flight test)
• Plan/lead/analyze flight tests and resolve simulation-test gaps
• Mentor engineers; advise leadership on actuator/sensor/aircraft trade-offs

Skills

Flight control

System identification

Control theory

MATLAB/Simulink

Python/C++

Flight testing

Communication

Education

Bachelor's in AA/AE/EE or related field

Tools

CONDUIT

CIFER

Git

CI/CD

Job description

Pivotal is seeking a Staff GNC Engineer to lead flight control law work for VTOL/rotorcraft. You will own inner/outer loop architectures, define design criteria, and guide verification from simulation to flight test.

You will mentor engineers and work with navigation, firmware, aeromechanical, systems engineering, safety, and flight test teams to deliver robust control solutions. Ideal candidates have extensive flight control experience, strong MATLAB/Simulink skills, and hands-on flight test