UAS GNC Engineer: Autonomous Flight & Edge AI

Drone.vet; Colorado Springs (CO); On-site; USD 110,000 - 175,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision, disability, &

Life insurance

Generous PTO

Tuition & certification reimbursement

Flexible work schedules

Discretionary bonuses

401(k) match/profit sharing

ESOP

Job summary

Scientific Applications & Research Associates, Inc. (SARA) in Colorado Springs seeks a highly skilled UAS/GNC Engineer to advance navigation, control, and AI edge processing for defense programs.

You will integrate flight controllers (PX4/ArduPilot), tune sensors, and develop embedded software across hardware and software teams, contributing to autonomous missions for DoD and DoE contracts.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in CS/Robotics/EE/Aerospace or related field.
• 5–7 years of hands-on UAV software development and flight controller integration.
• Proficient in C++, Python, ROS, MAVLink, and NVIDIA Jetson platforms.

Responsibilities

• Configure and integrate flight controllers with UAV platforms (PX4, ArduPilot).
• Tune parameters, flash firmware, and calibrate sensors (GPS, IMU, LiDAR, barometer).
• Develop embedded software using C++, Python, ROS, MAVLink for Jetson AI systems.
• Implement vision and AI-based perception for real-time tracking and SLAM.
• Optimize CUDA-based neural network inference on Jetson edge devices.
• Collaborate on mission planning and autonomous navigation capabilities.

Skills

Flight controller integration

Autonomous navigation

AI edge processing

C++

Python

CUDA programming

ROS

MAVLink

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS/Robotics/EE/Aerospace

Master’s degree in related field

Tools

PX4

ArduPilot

MAVLink

ROS

Jetson

Job description

Scientific Applications & Research Associates, Inc. (SARA) in Colorado Springs seeks a highly skilled UAS/GNC Engineer to advance navigation, control, and AI edge processing for defense programs.

You will integrate flight controllers (PX4/ArduPilot), tune sensors, and develop embedded software across hardware and software teams, contributing to autonomous missions for DoD and DoE contracts.