Engineering Manager - Control LawsThe RoleAs the Engineering Manager - Control Laws, you will serve as both the engineering lead and people manager responsible for development of the Control Laws for the EL9 Ultra Short aircraft.
You will inherit a baseline concept and prototype implementation and lead your team in finalizing preliminary design, driving detailed design execution, and maturing the system to a certifiable configuration.
This role requires deep expertise in flight controls and control theory as well as strong leadership capabilities to build and scale a high-performing team. You will collaborate with the flight control system team, airframe team, and flight physics team, and play a central role in bringing a novel aircraft configuration through certification.
What You'll Do- Own the end-to-end Control Law development for the EL9 aircraft, from preliminary design through certification.
- Lead development and validation of the control law software, ensuring alignment across systems, performance, and structures.
- Build and lead a high-performing flight controls team, providing technical direction while delivering on program cost, schedule, and milestones.
- Support control law integration into the Flight Control system, including verification, and flight test
- Ensure that the control laws meets performance, safety, and handling quality requirements at the aircraft level.
What You'll Bring:- Bachelor's degree and 10+ years of relevant experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Proven ability to lead a team and drive complex programs to execution.
- Strong understanding of flight dynamics, aircraft control theory, and handling qualities.
- Experience with model-based development, simulation environments, and control law verification.
- Experience deploying safety-critical software to a real-time embedded platform
- Experience with modeling aircraft and aircraft systems, aerodynamics, aero-elastic effects, actuators, sensors, and propulsion systems.
- Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.
- Ability to balance deep technical involvement with strategic leadership responsibilities.
Bonus Points- Experience leading control law development for novel or highly integrated aircraft configurations (e.g., STOL, eVTOL, hybrid-electric aircraft).
- Experience developing algorithms for fly-by-wire and/or stability augmentation systems, from initial concept through flight testing.
- Familiarity with industry-standard aerospace development and certification practices (DO-178, DO-331) applicable to flight software development.
- Familiarity with automated testing, CI/CD pipelines
- Experience with redundant and fault-tolerant control system architectures.
- Experience building, scaling, and managing high-performing engineering teams, including hiring, mentoring, and driving technical excellence and accountability.
Compensation$153,000 - $185,000 annually. This range reflects the anticipated hiring range across all eligible locations; actual compensation is determined based on your relevant experience, skills, and geographic location. Total compensation includes performance bonus and comprehensive benefits.
What We Offer- Competitive salary and equity
- Medical, dental, and vision insurance; STD, LTD, and life insurance
- Generous PTO, sick leave, and company holidays
- Paid winter break
- 401(k) with immediate vesting
- Free catered lunches, coffee, snacks, and drinks at our Manassas headquarters
