Sr Staff GNC Engineer

Archer•San Jose, CA

About The Position

Archer is an aerospace company based in San Jose, California building an all-electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft with a mission to advance the benefits of sustainable air mobility. We are designing, manufacturing, and operating an all-electric aircraft that can carry four passengers while producing minimal noise. Our sights are set high and our problems are hard, and we believe that diversity in the workplace is what makes us smarter, drives better insights, and will ultimately lift us all to success. We are dedicated to cultivating an equitable and inclusive environment that embraces our differences, and supports and celebrates all of our team members. What you’ll do: Lead teams to design and implement flight control algorithms for electric VTOL aircraft Work cross functionally to connect GNC requirements with other system requirements Influence leadership with decisions that are affected by GNC systems. Implement creative solutions to efficiently verify complex systems and software Build simulations to verify and validate system requirements Run trade studies to inform aircraft design and system architecture Work with the Flight Test team to design tests that safely evaluate the vehicle capabilities Improve the fidelity and capabilities of our vehicle and environment simulation models Analyze full-scale and subscale flight data to improve our models Author software requirements and test cases that drive the design of the GNC software Collaborate with Systems Engineering to properly decompose higher level requirements Collaborate with Systems Safety and Systems Engineering to identify and correct any deficiencies in the Flight Control System.

Requirements

Strong knowledge of vehicle dynamics, optimization, and both classical and modern control theory
BS in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical/Computer Engineering, or a related field with at least 10 years of relevant experience OR MS with at least 8 years of relevant experience OR PhD with at least 6 years of relevant experience
Proficiency in MATLAB/Simulink

Nice To Haves

Expert with aircraft or rotorcraft performance and handling qualities requirements
Experience verifying GNC systems in simulation and on hardware
Experience with envelope protection
Experience with modeling physics, sensors, and actuators
Experience applying system identification techniques to aircraft or rotorcraft
Knowledge of fault detection and isolation techniques
Experience implementing trajectory generation and/or optimization algorithms
Experience flight testing piloted and/or autonomous aircraft or rotorcraft
Piloting experience (aircraft or rotorcraft)

Responsibilities

Lead teams to design and implement flight control algorithms for electric VTOL aircraft
Work cross functionally to connect GNC requirements with other system requirements
Influence leadership with decisions that are affected by GNC systems.
Implement creative solutions to efficiently verify complex systems and software
Build simulations to verify and validate system requirements
Run trade studies to inform aircraft design and system architecture
Work with the Flight Test team to design tests that safely evaluate the vehicle capabilities
Improve the fidelity and capabilities of our vehicle and environment simulation models
Analyze full-scale and subscale flight data to improve our models
Author software requirements and test cases that drive the design of the GNC software
Collaborate with Systems Engineering to properly decompose higher level requirements
Collaborate with Systems Safety and Systems Engineering to identify and correct any deficiencies in the Flight Control System.