Pivotal Senior GNC Engineer leads flight control system technical direction and team leadership for Pivotal's eVTOL aircraft programs. Accountable for control law architecture, redundancy, failure accommodation, and verification processes.
Responsibilities
The GNC team at Pivotal develops the flight control and navigation algorithms that let our aircraft fly safely and precisely, including on the Helix family of aircraft. We are looking for a Senior Staff GNC Engineer to be the technical and team lead for flight controls across our aircraft programs, setting the long-term direction for how Pivotal aircraft are controlled and how the team develops, verifies, and qualifies its control laws.
The ideal candidate is a recognized flight controls expert who has led control law development for at least one aircraft from early design through flight test, ideally a VTOL, rotorcraft, or eVTOL aircraft.
Technical Direction
Set the long-term technical direction for flight controls across aircraft programs, including control law architecture, operating modes, redundancy, and failure accommodation.
Make or guide the final technical calls on major flight control design decisions and trade-offs, and document the rationale.
Shape aircraft-level decisions that affect flight controls, such as actuator and sensor selection, redundancy, flight computer architecture, and aircraft configuration.
Stay hands-on with the hardest technical problems, such as transition, envelope protection, and failure accommodation.
Process, Tools & Verification
Define how the team develops and verifies flight control laws, including model-based design practices, simulation and test infrastructure, and automated verification.
Lead the assurance and certification approach for flight controls with the systems engineering, safety, and certification teams, including means of compliance and DO-178C, DO-331, and ARP4754A objectives.
Review flight readiness for significant control law changes and flight envelope expansion.
Team Leadership & Collaboration
Qualification
Experience with VTOLExperience with eVTOLExperience using CONDUIT and CIFERExperience scaling model-based design
Required
Track record of taking flight control laws from design to flight on real aircraft
Experience with VTOL, rotorcraft, or eVTOL preferred
Ability to make sound design and flight test decisions with incomplete information
Preferred
Master’s degree or PhD in Aerospace Engineering or a related field, with a focus on flight dynamics or flight controls.
Experience with eVTOL, tiltrotor, rotorcraft, or other VTOL aircraft, including control through the transition between hover and forward flight.
Experience taking a flight control system through certification or airworthiness approval, such as with the FAA, EASA, or a military authority, including DO-178C, DO-331, ARP4754A, and ARP4761.
Experience using CONDUIT and CIFER.
Experience with handling qualities specifications and evaluations, such as ADS-33, MIL-DTL-32742, and MIL-STD-1797, including piloted simulation evaluations.
Experience developing flight controls for both piloted and autonomous aircraft.
Experience building or leading a flight controls team.
Experience scaling model-based design, simulation infrastructure, and automated testing, using Git, continuous integration, and agile development workflows.
