Controls Engineer

About Us:

We are a cutting-edge defense startup founded by former Navy electrical engineers with a strong background in robotics and software. Our team is developing a small, autonomous gun turret that uses advanced computer vision and control systems to precisely detect and neutralize small drones and loitering munitions.

We foster an engineering-first culture that values innovation, technical excellence, and real-world impact. Our founders’ previous successful ventures, acquired for a combined $180M in 2022, reflect our commitment to building groundbreaking technologies that matter.

About the Role:

We are seeking a Controls Engineer to join our team, focusing on robot dynamics, motor control, and precision real-time systems. You will design, test, and refine control systems that power our next-generation autonomous defense platforms. This role offers direct influence on system performance and mission success in a fast-paced, startup environment.

What You’ll Do:

• Develop and refine high-precision motor control systems for real-time applications.
• Build simulation and testing tools in Python or C++ to validate control strategies.
• Collaborate with embedded software, hardware, and computer vision teams to integrate control systems into autonomous platforms.
• Analyze system dynamics, performance, and develop solutions for complex control challenges.
• Support system integration, tuning, and field testing of autonomous systems.
• Document control strategies, algorithms, and performance metrics.
• Stay up to date on advances in control theory, robotics, and real-time systems.

What You’ll Need:

• Master’s degree in Electrical, Mechanical, Aerospace Engineering, Robotics, or related field.
• 3+ years of experience in controls engineering with strong proficiency in Python.
• Experience developing motor control algorithms, flight control systems, or real-time motion control applications.
• Knowledge of control theory, PID tuning, state estimation, and feedback loops.
• Familiarity with system identification methods and robotics motion control strategies.
• Experience with simulation environments and test frameworks (Python-based preferred).
• Understanding of real-time constraints and hardware-software integration.
• Comfortable with Git, CI/CD workflows, and writing clean, maintainable, well-tested code.
• Passion for autonomous systems and a collaborative, fast-paced startup environment.

Bonus Qualifications:

• Experience with embedded systems programming in C/C++.
• Proficiency with MATLAB/Simulink for modeling and simulation.
• Experience with autonomous aerial or ground robotic platforms.
• Familiarity with sensor fusion, state estimation, and Kalman filtering.
• Experience with MIMO systems and adaptive/nonlinear control methods.
• Exposure to hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) or software-in-the-loop (SIL) testing.
• Prior work on ruggedized defense or aerospace systems.