Temporary Research Engineer

wpi; Maryland; On-site; USD 25,000 - 28,000; Part time

Job summary

Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) is seeking a Temporary Research Engineer to design, prove out, and fly safety-critical control systems for multirotor aircraft. You will develop control and runtime-assurance methods with real guarantees, then push them onto flight hardware and validate them in the air.

You will write production-quality C++ for real-time execution on embedded flight computers, integrate with ROS 2/MAVLink, and perform extensive flight tests and analyses to close the loop

Qualifications

• MS in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Robotics, Computer Science, or a closely related field.
• Strong foundation in nonlinear control and dynamics: Lyapunov analysis, optimal control, state estimation, and rigid-body dynamics.
• Demonstrated experience with UAV or multirotor control, in research.
• Proficiency in C++ (C++14 or later) and Python, including software running on real hardware rather than only in simulation.
• Experience taking an algorithm from derivation through simulation to hardware validation.
• Clear technical writing and the ability to explain a proof and a bug with equal precision.

Responsibilities

• Safety-critical control design.
• Develop and analyze control algorithms for quadrotors and other multirotors, including geometric control on SE(3), nonlinear MPC, robust and adaptive control, and disturbance observers.
• Design safety filters and constraint-enforcement layers using methods such as control barrier functions, reachability analysis, and contraction metrics.
• Derive and document stability, robustness, and safety guarantees, including the assumptions under which they hold and how they fail.
• Write production-quality C++ for real-time execution on embedded flight computers, with Python for analysis and prototyping.
• Integrate with flight stacks and middleware such as ROS 2, and MAVLink.
• Meet real-time constraints on limited compute, and profile and optimize control loops accordingly.
• Run Monte Carlo campaigns, software-in-the-loop and hardware-in-the-loop testing, and adversarial and edge-case scenario suites.
• Plan and execute flight test campaigns: write test cards, define abort criteria, support flight ops, and analyze logs afterward.
• Close the loop between flight data and models, and update the models when reality disagrees.

Skills

Nonlinear control

Model Predictive Control

UAV control

C++14+

Python

Real-time embedded

Education

MS in Aerospace Engineering / Electrical Engineering / Mechanical Engineering / Robotics / CS

Tools

ROS 2

MAVLink

Job description

Job Title

Temporary Research Engineer

Location

Worcester

Department Name

Robotics Engineering - JM

Division Name

Worcester Polytechnic Institute - WPI

Job Description Summary

We are looking for a Temporary Research Engineer to design, prove out, and fly safety-critical control systems for multirotor aircraft. You will develop control and runtime-assurance methods with real guarantees, then push them onto flight hardware and validate them in the air.

Job Description

Key Responsibilities

• Safety-critical control design
• Develop and analyze control algorithms for quadrotors and other multirotors, including geometric control on SE(3), nonlinear MPC, robust and adaptive control, and disturbance observers.
• Design safety filters and constraint-enforcement layers using methods such as control barrier functions, reachability analysis, and contraction metrics.
• Derive and document stability, robustness, and safety guarantees, including the assumptions under which they hold and how they fail.

Implementation

• Write production-quality C++ for real-time execution on embedded flight computers, with Python for analysis and prototyping.
• Integrate with flight stacks and middleware such as ROS 2, and MAVLink.
• Meet real-time constraints on limited compute, and profile and optimize control loops accordingly.

Validation and flight test

• Run Monte Carlo campaigns, software-in-the-loop and hardware-in-the-loop testing, and adversarial and edge-case scenario suites.
• Plan and execute flight test campaigns: write test cards, define abort criteria, support flight ops, and analyze logs afterward.
• Close the loop between flight data and models, and update the models when reality disagrees.

Minimum Qualifications

• M.S. in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Robotics, Computer Science, or a closely related field.
• Strong foundation in nonlinear control and dynamics: Lyapunov analysis, optimal control, state estimation, and rigid-body dynamics.
• Demonstrated experience with UAV or multirotor control, in research.
• Proficiency in C++ (C++14 or later) and Python, including software running on real hardware rather than only in simulation.
• Experience taking an algorithm from derivation through simulation to hardware validation.
• Clear technical writing and the ability to explain a proof and a bug with equal precision.

Hourly Pay Rate

$18.75 per hour. This is an on-site 20 hour per week temporary position.

FLSA Status

United States of America (Non-Exempt)

Equal Opportunity Employer Statement

WPI is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, or disability. It seeks individuals from all backgrounds and experiences who will contribute to a culture of creativity, collaboration, inclusion, problem solving, innovation, high performance, and change making. It is committed to maintaining a campus environment free of harassment and discrimination.