Staff Engineer Core Flight Controls
Merlin is a Boston-based aerospace and defense technology company developing AI-powered, aircraft-agnostic autonomy software for fixed-wing aircraft.
About Merlin
Merlin’s Merlin Pilot combines hardware and software intended to perform takeoff-to-touchdown flight functions for military and civil aircraft, supporting reduced-crew and autonomous operations. The operating business began as Apollo Flight Research in 2018, became Merlin Labs in 2020, and is now operated under public parent Merlin, Inc.
Skills
Candidate Availability
Required and preferred rules are kept separate and reflect the wording in the original posting.
About the Role
You will design and implement aircraft flight controls, translate system requirements into low-level controls requirements, and develop simulation and test tools. You will participate in flight testing, own flight-control delivery from end to end, and collaborate on certifiable autonomous aviation systems.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, or Electrical Engineering
- 10+ years of fixed-wing aircraft control-systems development experience
- Understanding of fixed-wing aircraft dynamics and classical and modern control design and analysis
- Experience decomposing system requirements for outer-loop and inner-loop control design
- Experience with model-based development and certification of flight-control systems
- Proficiency with MATLAB, Simulink, or another model-based development toolset
- Experience designing, implementing, and testing real-time software
- Experience with linear model development, linear analysis, and frequency-domain gain tuning
- Authorization to work in the United States without visa sponsorship now or in the future
Responsibilities
- Design and implement flight controls for aircraft automation systems
- Decompose system requirements into low-level flight-controls requirements
- Create and use simulation tools for development and testing
- Model and analyze control laws using Simulink, MATLAB, and Python
- Participate in flight testing for system identification and control-law verification
- Own the flight-control system from end to end and deliver it to programs and customers
- Collaborate to develop certifiable aviation autonomy systems
Benefits
- Equity grants
- Health insurance
- Dental insurance
- Life insurance
- Unlimited vacation
- 401k matching