Control Engineer, Stratospheric Unmanned Electric Aircraft; Wing

• Title:
  
  Control Engineer, Stratospheric Unmanned Electric Aircraft
• Department: HAPS
• Location:
  
  Valencia, Spain
• Type of
  
  Contract:
  
  Permanent
• Working Model:
  On-site
• Employment is subject to applicable security screening (incl. SUPO)

As a Control Engineer in the HAPS program, you will be responsible for the design, implementation, and maintenance of various custom pieces of autopilot systems and control logic to manage the complex transition of an ultra-lightweight large wingspan aircraft from takeoff to transitioning through the atmosphere to twice the altitude of passenger jets, normal operations and landing.

It will involve numerous challenges to manage a takeoff and separation from a launch carrier, aeroelastics management, protection of structures in the face of adverse weather, complex landing transitions, and mission profiles of Earth Observation tasks etc.

The span of control system development needs in an unmanned aircraft like HAPS is very wide, ranging from flight control and navigation to guidance and mission management, which will require collaboration across the entire team from structures to avionics to operations. You will be part of a growing and dedicated team facing an exciting challenge.

You will get to work with a world-class team on a UAV project that has real impact and will set a new mark on aviation history. You will get to enjoy a transparent, open, and inclusive work culture. This is the beginning of an operations-dedicated team that’s intended to grow fast, thus, it offers substantial growth opportunities.

ICEYE delivers space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities to governments and allied nations. This includes sovereign and turnkey ISR missions leveraging ICEYE’s world-leading synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite technology, as well as access to data from the world’s largest SAR satellite constellation. These capabilities enable partners to detect and respond to critical changes anywhere on Earth with unprecedented speed and accuracy – day or night and in any weather, supported by ultra high-resolution imagery and high-frequency revisits.

As a trusted partner for defense, intelligence, security, and maritime domain awareness, ICEYE’s near real-time data creates a tactical advantage for mission-critical operations. Designed for dual use, the platform also serves civil protection and commercial users for natural-catastrophe intelligence, insurance, maritime monitoring (including oil-spill detection), and finance, contributing to global security and community resilience.

ICEYE operates internationally with offices in Finland, Poland, Spain, Japan, the UAE, Greece, and the US. The company has more than 900 employees, inspired by the shared vision of improving life on Earth by becoming the global source of truth in Earth Observation.

• Managing a complex balance of aeroelastics, adverse weather, structural needs and mission needs
• Designing and implementing advanced control algorithms for a novel UAV system, including flight control, navigation, and guidance systems
• Developing and optimizing state estimation algorithms for robust performance in various flight conditions
• Integrating sensors and actuators into the control architecture, ensuring seamless data flow and command execution
• Developing and/or improving hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) and software-in-the-loop (SITL) simulation systems for control system verification and validation
• Discovering and understanding airworthiness requirements pertaining to control system safety and reliability
• Developing rigorous verification procedures for control system performance and stability
• Participation in flight test campaigns and in-flight data analysis to fine-tune and troubleshoot control systems

• 5+ years of relevant work experience in control system design and implementation
• Strong theoretical background in classical and modern control theory
• Experience in building simulations, physics models and complex test cases to develop against
• Proficiency in programming languages commonly used for control systems (e.g., C, C++, Python)
• Expertise…