GNC Engineer (Controls)

About the role

Support control design and evaluation for Mach’s fixed-wing aircraft. You’ll own your piece of the aircraft design, implementation, and validation of flight-critical control laws—spanning takeoff to landing—delivering robust performance across the full envelope.

Responsibilities

• Design control systems within defined architecture and requirements for fixed-wing vehicles
• Design and implement control laws accounting for actuator limits, time delays, and sensor noise as part of the controls team
• Participate in system identification and aerodynamic model development from wind-tunnel, CFD, and flight-test data
• Execute verification & validation work: SIL/HIL campaigns, Monte Carlo, and flight-readiness criteria; communicate findings to the team and program leadership
• Participate in flight-test planning and execution; analyze logs, tune controllers, and iterate safely and quickly
• Learn from the controls team, carry your work through design/code reviews to meet roadmap goals and milestones

Requirements

• Education: Bachelors in Engineering, Physics, Mathematics
• Experience: 0-5 years designing, analyzing and fielding flight control systems for fixed-wing aircraft or high-performance UAVs, including flight test
• Deep knowledge of flight dynamics, stability/controllability, and actuator/sensor modeling
• Familiarity with modern C++ for embedded real-time implementations; strong MATLAB/Simulink/Python for modeling, ID, and analysis
• Familiarity with verification workflows (SIL/HIL), requirements traceability, and safety reviews
• Familiarity with modern software workflows (git, code review, issue tracking) and data/telemetry analysis

Preferred Qualifications

• Practical and/or academic experience with modern/MIMO control design (LQR, LQG, LTR), system ID techniques, adaptive control
• Experience with energy-based control, autothrottle, sideslip/yaw coordination, and advanced control allocation for over-actuated systems
• Experience integrating with PX4 and ROS 2
• Exposure to DO-178C/DO-331/ARP4754A processes or equivalent rigor
• Comfort optimizing for resource-constrained processors and hard real-time constraints (latency/jitter budgets, numerics)

Disclosures

This position may require access to information protected under U.S. export control laws and regulations, including the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). Please note that any offer for employment may be conditioned on authorization to receive software or technology controlled under these U.S. export control laws and regulations without sponsorship for an export license.

Mach participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S.

Pay

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

Benefits

• Health insurance
• Retirement plans
• Opportunities for professional development