Senior Engineer, GNC San Jose, California, United States

Archer is an aerospace company based in San Jose, California building an all-electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft with a mission to advance the benefits of sustainable air mobility. We are designing, manufacturing, and operating an all-electric aircraft that can carry four passengers while producing minimal noise.

Our sights are set high and our problems are hard, and we believe that diversity in the workplace is what makes us smarter, drives better insights, and will ultimately lift us all to success. We are dedicated to cultivating an equitable and inclusive environment that embraces our differences, and supports and celebrates all of our team members.

Who we are

Archer is an aerospace company based in San Jose, California building an all-electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft with a mission to advance the benefits of sustainable air mobility. We are designing, manufacturing, and operating an all-electric aircraft that can carry four passengers for 60 miles at speeds of up to 150 mph while producing minimal noise.

What you’ll do

• Lead teams to design and implement flight control algorithms for electric VTOL aircraft
• Work cross functionally to connect GNC requirements with other system requirements
• Influence leadership with decisions that are affected by GNC systems.
• Implement creative solutions to efficiently verify complex systems and software
• Build simulations to verify and validate system requirements
• Run trade studies to inform aircraft design and system architecture
• Work with the Flight Test team to design tests that safely evaluate the vehicle capabilities
• Improve the fidelity and capabilities of our vehicle and environment simulation models
• Analyze full-scale and subscale flight data to improve our models
• Author software requirements and test cases that drive the design of the GNC software
• Collaborate with Systems Engineering to properly decompose higher level requirements
• Collaborate with Systems Safety and Systems Engineering to identify and correct any deficiencies in the Flight Control System.

What you need

• Strong knowledge of vehicle dynamics, optimization, and both classical and modern control theory
• BS in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical/Computer Engineering, or a related field with at least 10 years of relevant experience OR MS with at least 8 years of relevant experience OR PhD with at least 6 years of relevant experience
• Proficiency in MATLAB/Simulink

Bonus Qualifications

Expert with aircraft or rotorcraft performance and handling qualities requirements

• Experience verifying GNC systems in simulation and on hardware
• Experience with envelope protection
• Experience with modeling physics, sensors, and actuators
• Experience applying system identification techniques to aircraft or rotorcraft
• Knowledge of fault detection and isolation techniques
• Experience implementing trajectory generation and/or optimization algorithms
• Experience flight testing piloted and/or autonomous aircraft or rotorcraft
• Piloting experience (aircraft or rotorcraft)

Archer is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusivity in the workplace. All aspects of employment are decided on the basis of merit, qualifications, and business needs. We do not discriminate based upon race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, gender identity or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. For this position we are targeting a base pay between $160,000 - $200,000. Actual compensation offered will be determined by factors such as job‑related knowledge, skills, and experience.

Archer is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to job applicants with physical or mental disabilities, and those with sincerely held religious beliefs. Applicants who may require reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process should provide their name and contact information to Archer’s People Team at View email address on click.appcast.io. Reasonable accommodations will be determined on a case‑by‑case basis.

Information collected and processed as part of any job applications you choose to submit is subject to Archer's Candidate Privacy Policy.

Archer is unable to provide work visa sponsorship for this position at the present time.