Principal Robotic Controls Engineer

Aurelius Systems•San Francisco, CA

15h

About The Position

Aurelius Systems is hiring a Principal Controls Engineer to own the theory and implementation of beam control and tracking for autonomous directed-energy systems. The role covers the complete pointing and tracking system, including coarse and fine pointing architecture, sensor-fusion estimators, jitter and latency budgets, and analysis of system performance against real targets. The engineer will work with perception, optics, and mechanical leads on architecture and roadmap decisions and serve as the company’s senior technical voice on controls. The role combines control-system derivation, simulation, embedded implementation, and hands-on outdoor range testing. The engineer will model and identify system dynamics, validate algorithms in an in-house simulator and on hardware, and refine laser positioning against dynamic targets. The work includes achieving and maintaining microradian-class pointing precision, integrating fire-control functions and safety interlocks, and checking that field results match model predictions. The position is an individual-contributor technical anchor with mentorship through example rather than management of a large team. Aurelius Systems is a venture-backed defense technology startup building autonomous, edge-deployed directed-energy systems for counter-UAS. It has a San Francisco lab, a Detroit manufacturing hub, and a 400-acre private test range where it conducts weekly field tests. This role requires access to export-controlled information or items and therefore requires U.S. Person status as defined in the posting.

Requirements

PhD-level depth in control theory and estimation, with the ability to derive and defend system architecture.
Expertise in robust control, such as H-infinity, mu-synthesis, or LQG; optimal estimation, including Kalman variants, IMM, or nonlinear observers; multi-rate and sampled-data design; and adaptive or learning-based disturbance rejection.
At least 10 years closing loops on precision-pointing, tracking, or stabilization hardware, including PhD research, on systems required to meet a measured field specification.
Microradian-class line-of-sight experience on beam directors, fine steering mirrors, gimbaled EO/IR sensors, laser communications pointing-acquisition-tracking terminals, telescopes, spacecraft pointing systems, or equivalently precise mechatronics.
Hands-on system identification and plant modeling involving real structural dynamics, with a record of models that predicted hardware behavior.
Experience shipping real-time control loops in C or C++ on embedded or RTOS targets, or working closely with engineers who did; understanding of latency and quantization effects on control margins.
Comfort serving as the hands-on technical anchor for controls on a small team rather than managing a large team.
PhD in Control Systems, Electrical, Mechanical, or Aerospace Engineering, Applied Math, or a related field, with a dissertation in control or estimation theory; an MS plus a research-grade record of theory work implemented on fielded hardware may substitute.
U.S. Person status, as defined in the posting, is required for access to export-controlled information or items.

Nice To Haves

Directed-energy weapon or high-energy laser program experience.
Adaptive optics experience, including wavefront sensing, deformable-mirror control, or turbulence modeling.
Atmospheric propagation and beam-wander modeling experience.
MATLAB/Simulink production code generation, or Python and C++ control-design and hardware-in-the-loop toolchains.
Publications or patents in control, estimation, or precision pointing.
Founder or founding-engineer experience at a hardware company.
Familiarity with MIL-STD standards and ITAR compliance.
Active security clearance or ability to obtain one.

Responsibilities

Own the beam director control architecture, including coarse gimbal and fine steering mirror loop structure, bandwidth allocation, multi-rate design, and stage handoff.
Develop target-state estimators that fuse radar cues, EO/IR tracks, and inertial data into predicted aimpoints, with latency compensation.
Design line-of-sight stabilization and jitter rejection, including inertial stabilization, accelerometer feedforward, notch and adaptive filtering, and control-structure interaction analysis.
Allocate pointing-error budget terms across the system and achieve and maintain microradian pointing precision against dynamic targets through outdoor range experimentation and deployment.
Perform plant modeling and system identification for gimbals, mirrors, and structures; validate models through hardware-in-the-loop testing and support in-house simulators.
Conduct robustness and stability analysis, including margins, sensitivity, worst-case disturbances, and parameter variation.
Integrate fire-control functions, including cue-to-track-to-engage handoff, engagement sequencing, dwell and aimpoint maintenance logic, and safety interlocks with the laser team.
Rapidly transition control algorithms from simulation to embedded hardware, including kHz-rate loops, and run test campaigns comparing field data with predictions.
Provide technical review and identify risks in controls, estimation, and sensor integration across the system.
Serve as a hands-on technical anchor and mentor engineers by example.