State Estimation & Navigation Lead

Neros Technologies; Torrance (CA); On-site; USD 192,000 - 268,000; Full time

Job summary

Neros Technologies in Torrance, CA, is seeking a State Estimation and Navigation Lead to guide the onboard estimation and navigation stack for its autonomous drones. You will lead a small team of engineers while staying hands-on to deliver GPS-denied navigation across multiple platforms and establish robust measurement standards.

The role requires deep expertise in estimation theory, sensor fusion, and real-time embedded computation, with a track record of taking systems from architecture to

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional experience in state estimation, navigation, sensor fusion, or GNC for robotics, aerospace, autonomous vehicles, or defense systems, including experience leading engineers as a manager or technical lead
• Demonstrated ownership of a state estimation or navigation system taken from architecture through deployment on production hardware, not simulation alone
• Deep expertise in estimation theory and its practical application, including EKF, UKF, error state or invariant filters, and factor graph or sliding window smoothing, along with the observability reasoning behind selecting among them
• Hands on experience fusing IMU, camera, GNSS, and range or altimetry sensing, including calibration, time synchronization, latency compensation, bias modeling, and outlier rejection
• Experience delivering navigation performance in GPS denied or GPS degraded environments
• Strong C++ and Python, with experience implementing real time algorithms under embedded compute, memory, and latency constraints
• A track record of quantitative validation, including defining accuracy, drift, and consistency metrics and building the simulation, dataset replay, hardware in the loop, and flight test workflows that measure them
• Experience debugging estimation failures on real hardware in the field and converting them into reproducible regression tests
• Strong foundations in linear algebra, probability, and numerical optimization
• Nice to Have:Experience with visual inertial odometry or terrain relative navigation delivered as a fielded capability rather than a research result
• Nice to Have:Experience with target state estimation or tracking through clutter and occlusion, including range, bearing rate, and closing velocity
• Nice to Have:Experience building or contributing to small UAS flight stacks such as PX4, ArduPilot, or Betaflight, or to a custom flight control system
• Nice to Have:Experience defining evaluation or performance measurement standards that multiple teams report against
• Nice to Have:Experience scaling an autonomy stack across multiple vehicle platforms as a configuration rather than a fork
• Nice to Have:Prior work in a high tempo startup environment or on a program operating under ITAR or EAR constraints

Responsibilities

• Own the technical roadmap for onboard state estimation and navigation, and the interface this team delivers to guidance and control, including vehicle state, target state, and calibrated uncertainty
• Architect, implement, and field GPS denied and GPS degraded navigation to a bounded and measured accuracy specification, fusing IMU, vision, GNSS, and other onboard sensing on embedded compute
• Lead the development of visual inertial and terrain relative navigation from prototype through fielded capability across multiple aircraft
• Define and enforce the standard for characterizing estimation uncertainty and reporting autonomy reliability, including validation in simulation, dataset replay, hardware in the loop, and flight test
• Hire, manage, and mentor state estimation and navigation engineers, and set the technical bar through design and code review on the estimation path
• Partner with perception, guidance and control, platform software, and hardware teams on sensing, compute, latency, and calibration requirements, and support flight test and field deployment of the estimation stack

Skills

C++

Python

State estimation

Sensor fusion

GNC

Kalman filters

GPS-denied navigation

Embedded compute

Linear algebra

Mathematical optimization

Team leadership

Tools

PX4

ArduPilot

Betaflight

Job description

Neros is a defense technology company rebuilding America’s drone industrial base. We design and manufacture high-performance unmanned systems that are tested in combat, iterated at startup speed, and built at massive scale. Our team culture is fast, hands-on, and obsessed with closing the gap between design and deployment.

As drones transform the character of warfare, Neros is delivering the systems the West needs to compete on the modern battlefield and deter the adversaries of democracy. We’re hiring engineers, operators, and builders who want to move fast, take on extreme ownership, and get capability into the hands of warfighters in months, not years.

What you will be doing

The State Estimation and Navigation Lead owns the team responsible for determining vehicle state and target state onboard Neros aircraft, along with the uncertainty attached to each. This team delivers the estimate that guidance, control, and mission behavior are built on, and its accuracy directly bounds the performance of the autonomy stack. You will lead a small team of state estimation and navigation engineers while remaining hands on in the estimator itself, delivering GPS denied navigation across multiple platforms in active development and defining how estimation performance is measured across the autonomy organization.

• Own the technical roadmap for onboard state estimation and navigation, and the interface this team delivers to guidance and control, including vehicle state, target state, and calibrated uncertainty
• Architect, implement, and field GPS denied and GPS degraded navigation to a bounded and measured accuracy specification, fusing IMU, vision, GNSS, and other onboard sensing on embedded compute
• Lead the development of visual inertial and terrain relative navigation from prototype through fielded capability across multiple aircraft
• Define and enforce the standard for characterizing estimation uncertainty and reporting autonomy reliability, including validation in simulation, dataset replay, hardware in the loop, and flight test
• Hire, manage, and mentor state estimation and navigation engineers, and set the technical bar through design and code review on the estimation path
• Partner with perception, guidance and control, platform software, and hardware teams on sensing, compute, latency, and calibration requirements, and support flight test and field deployment of the estimation stack

You should have the following

• 5+ years of professional experience in state estimation, navigation, sensor fusion, or GNC for robotics, aerospace, autonomous vehicles, or defense systems, including experience leading engineers as a manager or technical lead
• Demonstrated ownership of a state estimation or navigation system taken from architecture through deployment on production hardware, not simulation alone
• Deep expertise in estimation theory and its practical application, including EKF, UKF, error state or invariant filters, and factor graph or sliding window smoothing, along with the observability reasoning behind selecting among them
• Hands on experience fusing IMU, camera, GNSS, and range or altimetry sensing, including calibration, time synchronization, latency compensation, bias modeling, and outlier rejection
• Experience delivering navigation performance in GPS denied or GPS degraded environments
• Strong C++ and Python, with experience implementing real time algorithms under embedded compute, memory, and latency constraints
• A track record of quantitative validation, including defining accuracy, drift, and consistency metrics and building the simulation, dataset replay, hardware in the loop, and flight test workflows that measure them
• Experience debugging estimation failures on real hardware in the field and converting them into reproducible regression tests
• Strong foundations in linear algebra, probability, and numerical optimization

Nice to Have

• Experience with visual inertial odometry or terrain relative navigation delivered as a fielded capability rather than a research result
• Experience with target state estimation or tracking through clutter and occlusion, including range, bearing rate, and closing velocity
• Experience building or contributing to small UAS flight stacks such as PX4, ArduPilot, or Betaflight, or to a custom flight control system
• Experience defining evaluation or performance measurement standards that multiple teams report against
• Experience scaling an autonomy stack across multiple vehicle platforms as a configuration rather than a fork
• Prior work in a high tempo startup environment or on a program operating under ITAR or EAR constraints

US Salary Range

$191,500 – $268,000 USD

The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations. Highly competitive equity grants are considered part of Neros' total compensation package.

We’re an equal opportunity employer. We welcome all applicants without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.

Export Compliance:The person hired will have access to information and items controlled by the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), and, therefore, must be a "U.S. Person" or otherwise eligible to receive an export license. As defined in the ITAR, a “U.S. Person” includes U.S. citizens, noncitizen U.S. nationals, lawful permanent residents (i.e., Green Card holders), and certain other classes of individuals (e.g., asylees/refugees). Please consult with a knowledgeable advisor if you are unsure whether you are a “U.S. Person.” To assist Neros in assessing its export compliance obligations in relation to your application, please identify which statement best applies to you: * Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey.Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiringprocess or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in aconfidential file.

As set forth in Neros Technologies’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy,we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection.As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measurethe effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categoriesis as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service‑connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.