Clera Principal Robotic Controls Engineer to design control architecture for precision pointing and tracking in autonomous directed-energy systems. Lead development of control algorithms and filters, and provide technical leadership on a small team.
Responsibilities
Join a defense technology team developing autonomous directed-energy systems. As the senior technical anchor for controls, you will shape precision pointing and tracking architecture, from theory and simulation through real-world hardware testing.
Design control architecture for coarse gimbals and fine steering mirrors, including bandwidth allocation, multi-rate operation, and stage handoffs.
Develop Kalman, interacting multiple model, and nonlinear filters that fuse radar, EO/IR, and inertial data into latency-compensated aimpoint estimates.
Build line-of-sight stabilization and jitter-rejection methods, including inertial stabilization, feedforward, and adaptive or notch filtering for structural modes.
Allocate pointing error budgets across jitter, bias, latency, and atmospheric effects, then validate precision performance against dynamic targets in field tests.
Model plants and identify system dynamics for gimbals, mirrors, and structures, using simulation and hardware-in-the-loop validation.
Analyze stability and robustness under disturbances and parameter variation, and integrate controls with tracking, engagement sequencing, and safety logic.
Deploy control algorithms to embedded targets, collaborate on kilohertz-rate loops, and compare field test results with simulation predictions.
Provide technical review across controls and sensor integration, and mentor engineers through hands-on technical leadership.
Qualification
Proficiency in robust controlBackground in sensor fusion
Required
At least 10 years of experience closing loops on precision pointing, tracking, or stabilization hardware, with PhD-level depth in control theory and estimation.
Proficiency in robust control, including H-infinity, mu-synthesis, and LQG, plus optimal estimation such as Kalman variants, IMM, and nonlinear observers.
Experience shipping C or C++ control loops on embedded or RTOS targets, and working with MATLAB/Simulink and Python.
Background in sensor fusion, multi-rate and sampled-data design, real-time hardware-in-the-loop validation, system identification, and structural dynamics.
Ability to serve as the controls technical anchor on a small team. Directed-energy or high-energy laser experience and an active security clearance, or ability to obtain one, are advantages.
Preferred
Directed-energy or high-energy laser experience
Active security clearance or ability to obtain one
