Flight Systems Futures - Staff GN&C Engineer

Northrop Grumman•Roy, UT

6d•$152,900 - $229,300•Onsite

About The Position

Northrop Grumman Defense Systems is seeking a Staff Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GN&C) Engineer (level 5) to support activities including flight simulator development, GN&C algorithm development and implementation, and "test as you fly" with rigorous model and requirements verification and validation. This position will be in Roy, Utah supporting Flight Systems Futures. The ideal candidate is a collaborative team player and a strong independent contributor, with demonstrated leadership, advanced problem-solving abilities, and excellent written and verbal communication skills. They bring strong interpersonal and organizational capabilities, a proactive mindset, and a meticulous, detail-oriented approach to their work.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) with 12 years of experience; or master’s degree with 10 years of experience; or PhD with 8 years of experience
Must be a US Citizen with an active DoD Secret Clearance, at time of application, current and within scope, with an investigation date within the last 6 years.
Must have the ability to obtain Top Secret clearance and Special Access Program (SAP) approval within a reasonable period, as determined by the company to meet its business needs.
5 years of experience developing a 6 DOF flight dynamics model for a hypersonic vehicle
5 years of experience developing autopilot algorithms for hypersonic vehicles
5 years of experience evaluating impacts of control effectors on guidance and control (latency, bandwidth, etc.)
5 years of experience designing, analyzing, and tuning autopilot algorithms for missile, hypersonic, or unmanned aircraft systems.
5 years of experience developing targeting and guidance laws for hypersonic vehicles.
5 years of experience with MATLAB/Simulink for modeling, simulation, and code generation
Participation in at least one flight test program (e.g., sounding rocket, missile, UAV)

Nice To Haves

Experience evaluating impacts of navigation sensors on guidance and control (latency, frequency, etc.)
Knowledge of Advanced control theory (state space, optimal, robust, nonlinear, adaptive)
Knowledge of Flight dynamics of high Mach vehicles (aerodynamics, thermodynamics, propulsion integration)
Knowledge of Navigation and sensor fusion (INS, GPS, star tracker, lidar)
Knowledge of Real-time embedded systems and hard real time constraints
Proficiency in C/C++ for embedded code (preferably MISRA C compliant)
Python for data analysis & rapid prototyping
Use of version control (Git) and CI/CD pipelines
Familiarity with real-time operating systems
Experience with hardware in the loop (HIL) and software in the loop (SIL) testbeds
Use of Monte Carlo, robustness, and performance analysis tools
Knowledge of test article instrumentation, telemetry, and fault diagnostics
Familiarity with hypersonic phenomena: shock wave interactions, real gas effects, ablative heating, plasma communication blackout
Ability to work in multidisciplinary teams (aero, structures, thermal, software)
Clear communication of technical concepts to non-specialists
Proven track record of troubleshooting complex real time systems
Experience in deploying algorithms to software, hardware, and testing.
Experience designing guidance laws for precision strike, including trajectory shaping to meet impact angle, impact time, and footprint constraints.
Experience formulating and implementing pierce point / multi segment guidance laws spanning exoatmospheric and endoatmospheric flight regimes.
Experience developing path shaping guidance for sensor constrained flight (e.g., maintaining required pointing, field of view, and dwell time for onboard seekers or other sensors).
Experience integrating guidance law design with navigation and control to achieve stringent terminal accuracy and precision impact requirements in contested environments.

Responsibilities

Lead the development, verification, and validation of a 6-DOF missile flight simulation in a multi-disciplinary team environment.
Design, implement, and integrate guidance, navigation, and control (GN&C) algorithms for missile flight software.
Develop, maintain, and enhance analysis and performance-assessment tools for GN&C algorithms using MATLAB, C++, and Python.
Model missile components such as inertial measurement units (IMU) and thrust vector control (TVC) systems.
Conduct system-level performance assessments against mission requirements and produce clear, data-driven validation reports.
Analyze flight-test data and perform accuracy assessments to calibrate and refine GN&C models.
Apply trajectory optimization and nonlinear control techniques to improve missile trajectory performance.
Develop and execute hardware-in-the-loop (HWIL) testing and real-time software integration for embedded GN&C controllers.
Work with the GN&C Flight Software Team to automatically generate code from high-level specifications or models, ensuring consistency and reducing manual errors.
Manage version control, continuous integration, and automated testing of GN&C software toolchains (e.g., Git, CI/CD pipelines).
Serve as a technical liaison with customers and internal stakeholders, presenting analysis, findings, and recommendations.
Mentor junior engineers and contribute to technical documentation, best practices, and knowledge transfer across the team.