Principal GNC Engineer

AeroVironment • Huntsville, AL

1d

About The Position

Principal Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) Engineer: The GNC Principal Engineer is the overall technical authority for the Kinetic Air and Missile Defense Division. The GNC PE is responsible for supporting the development, integration, and testing of software and systems used in guidance, navigation, and control. The role involves working in a fast-paced, multi-disciplinary environment to solve complex engineering problems. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in GNC algorithm development, software integration, and testing, along with hands-on experience in missile systems. The Principal Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) Engineer works with our Design team to develop a variety of innovative Defense/Missile Systems for defense and commercial applications. This position will interact with Controls Engineers to allocate requirements and develop architectures to drive simulation models. These development efforts will generally be small focused design teams, which will require engineers to use a range of skills and tools across traditional engineering, computer science, and mathematical disciplines. Because of the nature of the development efforts, the engineer will need to work on a variety of stages of development including requirements definition, concept design, prototyping, detailed design, validation and verification testing. You will also need to be comfortable with supporting missile tests at remote sites, engaging in various testing and simulation activities to validate and enhance system performance.

Requirements

• Master Degree or PhD in a Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical, or Systems Engineering discipline (or equivalent).
• Experience with Defense products and customers, especially in C-UAS products
• Minimum of 15 years of demonstrated experience in GNC engineering, specifically in missile or aerospace systems
• Expertise in GNC algorithm development, including guidance, navigation, and autopilot algorithms
• Experience in an Agile and Waterfall development environment
• Excellent verbal, presentation, and written communication skills
• Experience project planning in terms of schedule, budget, and resource estimations
• Exceptional leadership and management skills, with the ability to develop and communicate a vision that inspires and motivates staff and aligns with the business strategy
• Ability to build strong relationships within all disciplines within organization
• Effective influencing and negotiation skills in an environment in which resources may not be under your direct control
• Experienced and proficient with MS Office applications and other office productivity tools
• U.S. Citizenship required
• Existing DoD Secret security clearance required

Nice To Haves

• Follows standard practices and procedures when analyzing situations or data from which answers can be readily obtained. Completes assigned tasks within schedule and budget
• Shares ideas and experiences with others, solicits feedback and asks relevant questions
• Able to excel in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment, where small teams share a broad variety of duties
• Displays strong initiative and drive to accomplish goals and meet company objectives
• Takes ownership and responsibility for current and past work products
• Is committed to learning from mistakes and driven to improve and enhance performance of oneself, others, and the company
• Has effective problem-solving, analytical, interpersonal and communication skills
• Team Player - Focuses on teamwork, collaboration and puts the success of the team above one's own interests
• Inspires, motivates, and empowers people to deliver organizational goals, while also delivering value back to employees
• Secret or Top Secret clearance, or the ability obtain a clearance is desired.

Responsibilities

• Personifies the AV pillar of “Innovation”.
• Develop and implement GNC algorithms for missile systems.
• Collaborate with multi-disciplinary teams on software development and integration efforts.
• Execute testing, data collection, and analysis, including hardware-in-the-loop and multi-functional testing.
• Work on 6DoF (Six Degrees of Freedom) modeling and simulations for performance validation.
• Assist in the development and execution of test plans and reports, presenting data to both large and small audiences.
• Ensure the application of best practices and standards in system design and testing.
• Supports the development of plans for product IRAD and sustaining projects through proper work decomposition and skills assignment to project work tasks
• Develops and mentors high-performing engineering teams
• Partners with functional leaders to drive process improvements throughout the engineering development processes
• Other duties as assigned

Benefits

• AV offers an excellent benefits package including medical, dental vision, 401K with company matching, a 9/80 work schedule and a paid holiday shutdown.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal