Pivotal (BlackFly eVTOL)
Senior GNC Engineer - Flight Controls
Palo Alto, CA · On-site · Senior
- Discipline
- Aerospace
- Industry
- Aerospace
Spec sheet
Automatically summarized from the employer’s posting. Check the original description below for full requirements.
Engineering
Senior GNC Engineer at Pivotal (BlackFly eVTOL) in Palo Alto, CA, focusing on flight control and navigation algorithm design, tuning, and verification. The role involves owning control laws, analysis, simulation, flight test, and cross-team collaboration.
Required
- flight control
- GNC
- control laws
- CONDUIT
- flight test
- systems engineering
- Monte Carlo
- modeling
Preferred
- VTOL/rotorcraft experience
- pilot-in-the-loop
- flight test support
- mentoring
- navigation
- firmware interfacing
Employer description
Pivotal is the leader in the emerging market of electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft. We design, develop, and manufacture light eVTOL aircraft and are renowned for the BlackFly aircraft the world’s first light eVTOL to fly manned missions and enter the consumer market.
Efficient, compact, and simple, Pivotal aircraft are designed for a wide range of consumer, public service, and defense applications. Our distinctive tilt-aircraft architecture and scalable platform have been flying for over 10 years. Last year we announced our next-generation aircraft, the Helix, which is rapidly progressing toward general release and scalable production in 2026.
Mobility is one of the most highly-valued areas of modern technology investments. This is the right company, in the right space, the right strategy, at the right time. If you are ready for adventure, we invite you to join our amazing team and grow with us.
About the Role
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 GNC Engineer to design, tune, and verify flight control laws for our aircraft, taking them from analysis and simulation through flight test.
You will own the control laws for specific flight modes and control loops within the architecture set by the team’s technical leads. That includes analysis and tuning with CONDUIT, system identification to support our models, Monte Carlo and mission-level verification, and flight test support. You will work closely with the navigation, firmware, aeromechanical, systems engineering, and flight test teams, and help mentor less experienced engineers.
The ideal candidate is a fully qualified flight controls engineer who works independently, has designed and tuned control laws that were evaluated in flight test or piloted simulation, ideally on VTOL, rotorcraft, or eVTOL aircraft, and brings sound judgment to interpreting analysis and test results.
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