Flight Controls Engineer

Job Summary

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), an affiliate of General Atomics, is a world leader in proven, reliable remotely piloted aircraft and tactical reconnaissance radars, as well as advanced high-resolution surveillance systems. We have an exciting opportunity for an Advanced Programs Flight Controls Engineer in the San Diego (Poway, CA) area. In this position, you will play an active role in the design and development of cutting‑edge next‑generation unmanned aircraft platforms.

Responsibilities include control law design and analysis, physics model generation, and code verification and validation. These responsibilities can span the entire lifecycle of a new aircraft development program, from requirements refinement to detailed design to prototype flight tests. You will have the chance to contribute to a broad swath of novel aircraft platforms ranging from Small Unmanned Air Systems (SUAS) to Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA).

This position offers competitive benefits, including a 9/80 work schedule, medical, dental, employer‑matched 401(k), pension plan, employee referral program, and more.

• Perform GNC‑related tasks for all phases of a new aircraft development program, including use case refinement, requirements development, clean‑sheet design, software integration and validation, flight test planning, and analysis of flight data through prototype flight tests.
• Translate the physics of flight‑control avionics, aerodynamic characteristics, and mass properties of a conceptual aircraft into MATLAB scripts and Simulink models for real‑time simulation and automatic code generation.
• Design discrete flight control laws, continually performing stability and flying qualities analyses.
• Independently verify and validate the embedded control‑law software on the simulated and actual hardware.
• Support development of analytic tools as needed for novel aircraft configurations.
• Participate in internal and customer‑facing design reviews, test readiness reviews, flight briefings, and technical interchange meetings.
• Collaborate among peers, as part of a multi‑disciplinary team (Systems, Software, Mechanical, and Electrical engineering), to solve unique and complex engineering challenges.

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or a related technical discipline, or equivalent experience: six or more years of experience with a bachelor’s degree, four or more years with a master’s degree, or two or more years with a PhD.
• Relevant background in low‑ and high‑speed aerodynamics, control systems, and aircraft dynamics.
• Experience with MATLAB/Simulink modeling, simulation, and analysis of linear and nonlinear dynamic systems.
• Strong knowledge of classical and modern control theory, lower‑order modeling, and filtering techniques.
• Strong communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills to effectively interface with other departments, customers, and/or government representatives.
• Ability to self‑motivate and self‑organize to achieve program‑established deadlines; proactively working independently and collaborating with other disciplines and seeking out help when appropriate.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a DoD Secret security clearance is required.

• Experience with flight‑control design and analysis for fixed and rotary wing aircraft or missile systems.
• Experience designing Simulink models for code generation and integration into an established C/C++ codebase.
• Familiarity with Stateflow, Python, and/or C/C++.
• Exposure to adjacent technical areas, including computational fluid dynamics (CFD), aerodynamics and performance, and/or aircraft structures.

Full‑time, Salary – $98,100 – $171,398

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems welcomes all qualified individuals and values diversity.