UAS Flight Controls Engineer - Autonomy & GNC Specialist

All Aviation Jobs; Conover (NC); On-site; USD 88,000 - 182,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k)

Dental insurance

Disability insurance

Health insurance

Life insurance

Paid time off

Vision insurance

Job summary

All Aviation Jobs seeks a UAS Flight Controls Engineer to design, develop, integrate, and validate flight control and GNC systems for autonomous unmanned platforms across defense, aerospace, and critical automation programs. The role requires hands-on experience with flight dynamics, embedded control, modeling, and sensor fusion.

The engineer will collaborate with mechanical, electrical, software, controls, cybersecurity, and manufacturing teams to ensure secure, high-performance autonomous

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a technical discipline with relevant experience in UAV/UAS or flight controls.
• Experience with control theory including PID, state-space, estimation, Kalman filtering, or adaptive controls.
• Proficiency in embedded software development using C, C++, Python, or equivalent real-time environments.
• Understanding of flight dynamics, aerodynamics, sensor integration, real-time systems, and system-level testing.
• Excellent written and oral communication and ability to document requirements and results.
• Ability to operate in confidential and cybersecurity-aware environments.

Responsibilities

• Design and tune flight control algorithms for fixed-wing, rotary-wing, or hybrid UAS platforms.
• Develop GNC systems for autonomous and semi-autonomous flight.
• Integrate sensors (IMU, GPS, barometer, vision, LiDAR, radar) and inputs.
• Perform modeling, simulation, and validation using MATLAB/Simulink/Python.
• Support hardware-in-the-loop testing and data analysis.
• Collaborate across mechanical, electrical, software, and cybersecurity teams.
• Produce and maintain engineering documentation and verification records.
• Troubleshoot performance issues and drive continuous improvement.
• Maintain confidentiality in controlled environments.
• Complete tasks within timelines and budget.
• Assist team members as needed.

Skills

PID control

State-space methods

Kalman filtering

Adaptive controls

Nonlinear controls

Embedded software

Flight dynamics

Sensor integration

Real-time programming

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering (controls focus)

Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering

Tools

PX4

ArduPilot

ROS

ROS2

Autopilot frameworks

Job description

All Aviation Jobs seeks a UAS Flight Controls Engineer to design, develop, integrate, and validate flight control and GNC systems for autonomous unmanned platforms across defense, aerospace, and critical automation programs. The role requires hands-on experience with flight dynamics, embedded control, modeling, and sensor fusion.

The engineer will collaborate with mechanical, electrical, software, controls, cybersecurity, and manufacturing teams to ensure secure, high-performance autonomous