Principal Robotic Controls Engineer

Aurelius Systems•San Francisco, CA

2d•$235,000 - $305,000

About The Position

Aurelius Systems is hiring a Principal Robotic Controls Engineer to own the control theory and estimation behind pointing and maintaining a laser beam on moving drones. The role leads beam control and tracking as a theory domain across the system, including nested coarse and fine pointing architecture; sensor-fusion estimators; jitter and latency budgets; and analysis of system performance before field testing. The engineer partners with perception, optics, and mechanical leads on architecture and roadmap, and serves as the company’s senior technical voice on controls decisions. The engineer derives control loops, tests them in the in-house simulator, and implements them on hardware rapidly. The work also includes hands-on outdoor-range testing and refinement of laser positioning, targeting microradian precision against maneuvering drones. The position spans architecture, estimation, stabilization, modeling, analysis, fire-control integration, embedded implementation, field validation, technical review, and mentorship by example. The role is based in a fast-iterating defense technology startup environment. Aurelius Systems operates a San Francisco lab, a Detroit manufacturing hub, and a 400-acre private range where it conducts weekly field tests. The company builds autonomous, edge-deployed directed-energy systems for counter-UAS.

Requirements

PhD-level depth in control theory and estimation, with the ability to derive and defend control architecture.
Expertise in robust control, such as H-infinity, mu-synthesis, and LQG; optimal estimation, including Kalman variants, IMM, and nonlinear observers; multi-rate and sampled-data design; and adaptive or learning-based disturbance rejection.
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 with beam directors, fine steering mirrors, gimbaled EO/IR sensors, laser communications pointing-acquisition-tracking terminals, telescope or spacecraft pointing, or equivalent-precision mechatronics.
Hands-on system identification and plant modeling involving real structural dynamics, with a record of models that accurately predicted hardware behavior.
Real-time implementation experience shipping loops in C or C++ on embedded or RTOS targets, or closely collaborating with engineers who did; understanding of latency and quantization effects on control margins.
Comfort serving as the 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, because the role requires access to export-controlled information or items.

Nice To Haves

Experience with directed-energy weapons or high-energy laser programs.
Adaptive optics experience, including wavefront sensing, deformable-mirror control, or turbulence modeling.
Atmospheric propagation and beam-wander modeling experience.
MATLAB/Simulink production-code generation experience, or experience with Python and C++ toolchains for control design and hardware-in-the-loop.
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, including Kalman, IMM, and nonlinear filters, fusing 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, filtering for structural modes, and control-structure interaction analysis.
Allocate and validate the pointing-error budget across jitter, bias, latency, and atmospheric effects; achieve and maintain microradian pointing precision against dynamic real-world targets through field experimentation and deployment.
Perform frequency- and time-domain system identification and plant modeling 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, and provide supporting proof.
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.
Move control algorithms from simulation to hardware rapidly, implement kHz-rate loops on embedded targets in collaboration with the software team, and run test campaigns comparing field data with predictions.
Review controls, estimation, and sensor integration across the system to identify technical risks and issues.
Mentor engineers by example while remaining hands-on.