UAV Autonomy Engineer (PX4/ArduPilot)

Ascend Engineering; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Ascend Engineering in Chicago, IL seeks a Robotics & Autonomy Engineer to develop, integrate, and validate autonomy on UAV platforms built around PX4 and ArduPilot. The role is hands-on across the full UAV stack, from embedded flight software to mission logic and field validation.

You’ll work on real-world flight tests, tune estimators and controllers, and integrate sensors and payloads. Must have permanent US residence and be ready to own engineering tasks across multiple projects.

Qualifications

• Strong robotics/autonomy fundamentals: coordinate frame transformations, Kalman filtering, and PID control.
• Strong C++ or C programming skills.
• Experience with PX4 or ArduPilot, or ability to ramp quickly on embedded autopilot codebase.
• Experience flying and testing UAV or robotic platforms.
• Familiarity with MAVLink, flight logs, and autopilot configuration.
• Experience debugging complex software and hardware interactions.
• Ability to work independently and take ownership across multiple projects.
• Strong problem-solving and practical engineering judgment.

Responsibilities

• Develop and modify PX4 or ArduPilot firmware to support new autonomy features and system capabilities
• Implement mission logic, flight behaviors, and MAVLink integrations
• Integrate sensors, cameras, radios, and payloads into UAV platforms
• Tune and analyze estimation and control performance (EKF/Kalman filtering, PID loops) across platforms
• Conduct flight testing and validate autonomous behaviors in real-world conditions
• Analyze flight logs and telemetry to diagnose and resolve issues
• Debug problems across the UAV stack including firmware, networking, hardware, and companion computers
• Collaborate with engineers to design robust UAV architectures and workflows
• Document system behavior, debugging results, and design decisions

Skills

Robotics fundamentals

Coordinate frames

State estimation

PID control analysis

C/C++ programming

PX4/ArduPilot experience

Autonomy software

UAV testing

Tools

PX4

ArduPilot

MAVLink

ROS/ROS 2

Linux

Job description

Ascend Engineering in Chicago, IL seeks a Robotics & Autonomy Engineer to develop, integrate, and validate autonomy on UAV platforms built around PX4 and ArduPilot. The role is hands-on across the full UAV stack, from embedded flight software to mission logic and field validation.

You’ll work on real-world flight tests, tune estimators and controllers, and integrate sensors and payloads. Must have permanent US residence and be ready to own engineering tasks across multiple projects.