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Principal GNC Engineer - Tracking & Estimation
Job Description
Our Client is seeking a Guidance Navigation Control Engineer III for an opportunity with our client in the Aerospace and Defense Manufacturing industry.
Work Location: Onsite in Chandler, AZ
Duration: 12 months
Terms: W2 Contract
Work Authorization: US Citizen; must hold an active/current Secret security clearance
Position Summary:
- In this role, you will lead the development and evaluation of guidance, navigation, and control systems for advanced aerospace applications, focusing on seeker based missile engagements and precision intercept performance.
- You will own key algorithm design and analysis tasks, applying mathematical models, control theory, and state estimation techniques to process complex seeker measurements and drive guidance and control laws.
- Your work will include architecting and maintaining six degrees of freedom (6 DOF) simulations, defining performance metrics, integrating hardware and software components, and conducting rigorous performance assessments and trade studies.
- You will mentor early career engineers, provide technical direction on seeker and tracking approaches, and collaborate with cross functional teams to ensure system reliability and mission success.
- Leading the design, development, implementation, verification, and test of high quality flight and simulation software; owning the design and maintenance of 6 DOF simulations used to develop, analyze, and validate flight algorithms and code; optimizing flight and simulation software for performance, robustness, and maintainability; defining and executing analysis campaigns using trajectory optimization and evaluation tools; and presenting technical results, risks, and recommendations to program leadership.
- This position is contingent upon obtaining and maintaining required program access(es), within a reasonable period of time, as determined by the company.
- Bachelor’s degree with 14 years of professional experience;
- OR a Master’s degree with 12 years of professional experience;
- OR a PhD with 10 years of professional experience, in electrical engineering, aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
- Must have an existing U.S. Government security clearance at the Secret level.
- Demonstrated experience with guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) concepts, algorithms, or analysis for aerospace or missile systems.
- Experience leading or significantly contributing to development, modeling, simulation, test, integration, or analysis activities for aerospace, missiles, spacecraft, or autonomous systems.
- Proficiency with one or more of the following: MATLAB/Simulink, Python, C/C++, or similar technical software tools, with development in a Linux environment.
- Advanced degree (MS or PhD) in electrical engineering, aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
- Strong foundation in control systems theory, guidance law development, and flight software implementation.
- Experience with state estimation and nonlinear filtering (e.g., Kalman Filter, Extended Kalman Filter, Unscented Kalman Filter), including tuning and performance assessment in realistic scenarios.
- Deep domain knowledge in target tracking and seeker systems (infrared and/or radio frequency), including requirements definition and algorithm design.
- Experience developing and validating target dynamics and measurement models and integrating them into end to end 6 DOF simulations.
- Experience with seeker measurements such as angle only measurements, line of sight (LOS) rate estimation, pixel/centroid based measurements for infrared seekers, and/or range, range rate (Doppler), azimuth/elevation, and angle only tracking for RF seekers.
- Experience with data association methods, track initiation and maintenance logic, and multi target tracking in the presence of false alarms and clutter.
- Proven ability to lead small technical teams or work packages, mentor junior engineers, and communicate complex technical concepts to diverse stakeholders.
- Strong proficiency in C/C++ and Python and experience with software development tools such as Jira, version control, and continuous integration workflows in a Linux environment.