Lead Controls Engineer (UAVs)

Role Summary

As **Lead Controls Engineer,**​you will own the control systems architecture, guide algorithm development (attitude, trajectory, and mission-level control), and lead a team of controls engineers. This role combines technical depth in flight dynamics and control theory with leadership responsibilities, including mentoring, roadmap development, and cross-team collaboration with firmware, autonomy, and systems integration teams.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Control System Design & Development

• Architect, implement, and optimize control systems for attitude, altitude, velocity, and trajectory tracking .

• Develop both low-level controllers (motor commands, stabilization) and high-level controllers (trajectory following, waypoint tracking).

• Model and analyze UAV dynamics under variable payloads and flight conditions.

• Explore and implement advanced control methods (e.g., LQR, MPC, adaptive control, fault-tolerant control).

• Continuous Improvement & Research

• Stay updated with the state of the art in control systems , UAV dynamics, and adaptive/autonomous control methods.

• Drive innovation by evaluating new algorithms (e.g., AI/ML-enhanced control strategies).

• Ensure documentation, safety standards, and compliance with UAV regulatory requirements.

• Simulation, Testing & Tuning

• Lead the use of simulation environments (MATLAB/Simulink, Gazebo, AirSim, SITL/HIL) for validation.

• Define test cases and metrics for control performance, robustness, and safety.

• Oversee parameter tuning and log analysis during lab and field flight testing.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with:

• Firmware engineers to ensure low-level control implementation on embedded hardware.

• Autonomy engineers to connect planners with trajectory controllers.

• Perception & sensor fusion teams to leverage accurate state estimation for stable control.

• Flight test team to validate and iterate in real-world conditions.

Requirements

Qualifications

• Master’s or Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering, Controls, Robotics, or related field .

• 6–10 years of experience in control systems for robotics or UAVs.

• Strong expertise in: Classical control (PID, cascaded loops).

• Modern control (LQR, MPC, nonlinear/adaptive control).

• State estimation and dynamics modeling.

• Proficiency in MATLAB/Simulink , C++ , and Python .

• Hands-on experience with PX4, ArduPilot , or custom autopilot stacks.

• Proven experience with real-world tuning and analyzing UAV flight logs.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience leading small teams or projects.
• Familiarity with fault-tolerant and redundant control architectures .
• Knowledge of certifiable RTOS environments (SafeRTOS, INTEGRITY).
• Hands-on flight testing of UAVs (quadrotors, VTOLs, fixed-wing).
• Contributions to control-related research, publications, or open-source projects.

Benefits

What We Offer

• Technical leadership role at the heart of Unmannd’s flight systems.
• Direct impact on real-world UAV performance and reliability.
• Access to real hardware platforms, flight ranges, and simulations.
• Collaborative startup culture with opportunities to grow into Head of Controls / Autonomy .
• Competitive salary and equity options.