GNC & Flight Controls Engineer

Position Summary

EXOS Aerospace is seeking a Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) & Flight Controls Engineer to support the development, analysis, simulation, testing, and validation of flight systems for reusable suborbital vehicles and flight test infrastructure.

This role is primarily focused on GNC, including vehicle dynamics, trajectory design, guidance logic, navigation performance, control system development, simulation, and post-flight data analysis. The ideal candidate will also be comfortable working beyond traditional GNC boundaries to support instrumentation, sensors, controls hardware, data acquisition, integrated testing, and troubleshooting as needed.

In addition to the engineering scope, this position carries technical program management responsibilities in direct support of the Chief Technology Officer (CTO). The engineer will help the CTO plan, coordinate, and drive execution across flight and test programs, tracking technical milestones, schedules, deliverables, and cross-team dependencies while translating the CTO’s technical priorities into actionable, well-sequenced work. This is a hands-on hybrid role for someone who wants deep GNC engineering work while also helping the CTO keep programs organized, on schedule, and moving.

EXOS operates in a hands-on, fast-moving hardware environment where engineers frequently work across disciplines. The right candidate will be comfortable developing simulations and algorithms, analyzing flight data, supporting integrated vehicle testing, and working directly with avionics, instrumentation, propulsion, test, and operations teams to solve real-world problems while also coordinating people, schedules, and deliverables on behalf of the CTO.

This position will help improve how EXOS vehicles fly, respond, stabilize, follow commanded trajectories, and generate reliable engineering data while supporting safe, repeatable, and data-rich flight operations. It will also help ensure the technical programs behind those vehicles are planned, tracked, and executed with discipline.

Working at EXOS: Mission Control & the Exo3 AI Environment

Leadership at EXOS is changing. Our leaders are shifting from directing work to designing systems where people and AI can collaborate effectively. As an EXOS engineer, you will not simply use software tools. You will work inside an AI-native operating environment, with AI teammates handling much of the coordination, tracking, research, and documentation alongside you so your time can stay focused on high-value engineering and decision-making.

EXOS runs on Mission Control, our shared operating system for the company. Programs, tasks, decisions, schedules, opportunities, technical documentation, and program records all live in Mission Control, giving every team member and every AI agent a single, current picture of what is happening, what is due, and what needs a decision.

Much of the program management support you provide to the CTO will be executed through Mission Control, including creating and tracking tasks and action items, surfacing risks and schedule slips, capturing decisions, and keeping program knowledge organized and traceable.

You will also work in an Exo3 AI environment, where AI agents (“Exo”) operate as active teammates, capturing action items, drafting documents and status updates, running research and analysis, monitoring schedules and deadlines, and keeping records current.

The most effective people at EXOS are those who can direct and collaborate with these AI systems by framing problems clearly, delegating well-scoped work, reviewing and refining AI output, and keeping human judgment on technical, flight-safety, and program-critical decisions.

No prior experience with our specific tools is required. A willingness to work in an AI-augmented environment and help improve it is.

In practice, this means you will:

• Use Mission Control as your day-to-day hub for tasks, action items, schedules, decisions, and program records.
• Work alongside AI agents that draft, track, research, and document, directing and reviewing their output rather than doing all coordination work manually.
• Help design and improve the human-plus-AI workflows that keep EXOS programs organized, on schedule, and moving.
• Keep human engineering judgment on all technical, flight-safety, and program-critical decisions.

Responsibilities

GNC & Flight Controls

• Develop, analyze, and improve guidance, navigation, and control systems for reusable suborbital flight vehicles.
• Model and simulate vehicle dynamics, flight performance, stability, and control behavior across relevant phases of flight.
• Support trajectory design, trajectory optimization, mission planning, and flight profile development for suborbital test operations.
• Develop and validate guidance algorithms, navigation approaches, control logic, and vehicle response models.
• Build, maintain, and improve simulation tools used for flight analysis, vehicle performance prediction, test planning, and post-flight review.
• Perform pre-flight performance predictions, Monte Carlo analysis, dispersion analysis, sensitivity studies, and control robustness analysis.
• Support navigation system analysis using IMUs, GPS, onboard sensors, timing systems, and other flight data sources.
• Apply state estimation methods, including Kalman filtering or related techniques, to support navigation accuracy and flight performance analysis.
• Support control system design and analysis for vehicle stability, attitude control, trajectory correction, descent behavior, and landing objectives.
• Work with flight software and avionics teams to support implementation, integration, and validation of GNC algorithms and related flight logic.
• Support software-in-the-loop, hardware-in-the-loop, integrated system testing, and other verification and validation activities.
• Analyze flight and test data to reconstruct vehicle performance, compare predicted versus actual behavior, identify anomalies, and recommend improvements.
• Support vehicle design trades by assessing the impact of mass properties, aerodynamics, propulsion performance, actuator performance, sensor performance, and environmental conditions on flight behavior.
  
  

Instrumentation, Sensors & Integrated Test Support

• Define sensor, instrumentation, and data requirements needed to support GNC development, flight performance analysis, vehicle health assessment, and post-flight reconstruction.
• Support the selection, integration, checkout, and evaluation of flight sensors, actuators, instrumentation, and controls hardware.
• Assist with sensor checkout, signal verification, calibration review, data-quality validation, and troubleshooting during integrated vehicle and ground testing.
• Work with electrical, avionics, instrumentation, propulsion, and test teams to troubleshoot sensor, signal, actuator, control, and data acquisition issues that affect vehicle performance.
• Support data acquisition configuration and channel definition for vehicle dynamics, flight controls, system performance, and test objectives.
• Help evaluate technical specifications and select sensors, actuators, avionics, instrumentation, controls hardware, and related components when needed.
  
  

Program Management - Direct Support to the CTO

• Serve as a technical program management resource directly supporting the CTO, helping plan, organize, and drive execution across EXOS flight and test programs.
• Translate the CTO’s technical priorities and objectives into structured plans, schedules, milestones, and clearly assigned action items.
• Build and maintain integrated program schedules; track milestones, deliverables, dependencies, and critical-path items across engineering, test, and operations teams.
• Monitor program status against plan; surface schedule slips, technical risks, and resource constraints early, along with recommended mitigations for the CTO.
• Maintain and drive action-item, risk, and issue tracking; follow up across teams to ensure commitments are met and open items are closed.
• Coordinate cross-functional teams, including GNC, avionics, propulsion, structures, test, and operations, to keep technical work aligned, sequenced, and moving.
• Prepare program status updates, technical summaries, review materials, and briefings for the CTO and, as directed, for leadership, partners, and stakeholders.
• Support planning and coordination of design reviews, test readiness reviews, flight readiness reviews, and post-flight review processes.
• Help manage technical documentation, configuration records, and program records so program knowledge is captured, organized, and traceable.
• Support scope, schedule, and resource planning for new and ongoing programs, and help track program performance against technical and schedule objectives.
• Act as a coordination point on behalf of the CTO across teams and, as directed, with external partners, customers, and stakeholders.
• Operate primarily through Mission Control, the EXOS operating system, for planning, tracking, and reporting. Maintain tasks, action items, schedules, risks, decisions, and program records there, and work alongside AI agents to keep them current.
  
  

General

• Develop documentation, analysis reports, simulation results, model assumptions, test procedures, verification records, configuration records, and technical recommendations.
• Collaborate with engineering and operations teams to support test readiness, flight readiness, launch operations, and post-flight review processes.
• Contribute across adjacent engineering functions when needed to help solve technical problems and support EXOS’ flight and test programs.
  
  

Basic Qualifications

• 2+ years of experience in GNC, flight dynamics, trajectory analysis, controls, simulation, aerospace vehicle modeling, or related engineering work.
• Experience with vehicle dynamics, control theory, trajectory analysis, navigation systems, or flight performance modeling.
• Experience using MATLAB, Simulink, Python, C++, or similar tools for modeling, simulation, numerical analysis, or algorithm development.
• Strong understanding of coordinate frames, rigid body dynamics, aerodynamics, propulsion effects, state estimation, feedback control, and flight mechanics.
• Experience working with or analyzing data from IMUs, GPS, onboard sensors, actuators, or related flight hardware.
• Demonstrated ability to plan, organize, and track technical work, including schedules, milestones, action items, and cross-team dependencies.
• Strong organizational, communication, and follow-through skills, with the ability to coordinate multiple teams and keep work on schedule.
• Ability to work in a hands-on, fast-paced, multidisciplinary hardware environment and across disciplines as needed.
  
  

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• Experience supporting or coordinating technical programs, projects, or test campaigns, including scheduling, milestone tracking, and cross-team coordination.
• Experience working directly with senior technical leadership, such as a CTO, Chief Engineer, or Program Director, to plan and drive execution.
• Familiarity with launch vehicle, sounding rocket, missile, or reusable flight vehicle development and test.
• Experience with hardware-in-the-loop / software-in-the-loop test environments and integrated vehicle testing.
• Familiarity with program management tools and methods, including integrated master schedules, risk registers, and action-item tracking.
• U.S. person status may be required for compliance with U.S. export control regulations (ITAR/EAR).