Job DescriptionBecause this role involves a combination of collaborative/in-person and independent work, it will take the form of a hybrid work format, with time split between working onsite and remotely.
The Ground, Navigation, and Control (GNC) Systems Engineer is responsible for the design, development, integration, and validation of advanced navigation solutions for aerospace, defense, or autonomous platforms. This role focuses on developing robust algorithms and architectures that provide accurate and reliable state estimation under challenging, dynamic, and sensor-limited environments.
Key Responsibilities- Develop and implement navigation algorithms using multi-source sensor fusion, combining data from inertial sensors, GPS/GNSS, vision systems, radar, and other external aids.
- Design, tune, and optimize Kalman-filter-based estimators, including EKF, UKF, CKF, and advanced non-linear filtering methods.
- Architect and analyze inertial navigation systems (INS), including strapdown integration, sensor error modeling, bias/scale factor estimation, and drift compensation.
- Perform system modeling, simulation, and analysis of navigation and guidance performance under varying mission scenarios.
- Integrate navigation algorithms into embedded real-time systems and support software verification, validation, and hardware-in-the-loop testing.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams in GNC, autonomy, avionics, and systems engineering to ensure seamless integration of navigation subsystems.
- Conduct trade studies and performance analyses to evaluate sensor configurations, filter approaches, and navigation architectures.
- Document requirements, interface specifications, algorithm designs, and test results to support certification and product development.
Required Skills and Education- Bachelor's degree in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math (STEM) discipline, and 6 plus years of direct related experience.
- Must be a US Citizen.
- Have the ability to obtain a DoW Security Clearance.
- Strong expertise in multi-sensor fusion techniques for navigation and state estimation.
- Deep understanding of inertial navigation principles, IMU error sources, INS mechanization, and inertial alignment methods.
- Proficiency in Kalman filtering and its variants for linear and nonlinear estimation problems.
- Experience with navigation system modeling, simulation environments, and performance analysis.
- Familiarity with aerospace or autonomous system GNC frameworks and real-time implementation constraints.
- Strong programming skills in languages typically used for algorithm development (e.g., C++, Python, MATLAB).
- Ability to interpret sensor data, analyze system behavior, and diagnose estimation issues through statistical and signal-processing methods.
- Effective communication skills for explaining complex technical topics to multidisciplinary teams.
- Experience working with software and systems engineering processes
- Experience with leadership as a part of program execution
- Experience with real-time embedded hardware systems
- A working knowledge of Communication Systems, Digital Signal Processing, or Radio Frequency Filtering
Preferred Skills and Education- Masters or PhD degree in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math (STEM) discipline, and 6 plus years of direct related experience.
- Secret Clearance
- Experience with Jira and DOORS
- Experience or interest in utilizing AI tools for system development
- Experience with Model-Based System Engineering (MBSE) tools (CAMEO, SysML, MagicDraw, etc.)
