Flight Controls Engineer

UAS Flight Controls Engineer

Location: Lafayette, Louisiana
Employment Type: Full-Time
Company: DMR Technologies

This role could possibly be performed remotely in the US, however, there may be a compensation premium for people willing to be in the state of Louisiana (Lafayette, preferably).  Strong preference to Lafayette, LA.  It is also possible that this role could be considered for stock options for the right person.

Position Overview

DMR Technologies is seeking a UAS Flight Controls Engineer to support the development, integration, testing, and continued improvement of our unmanned aircraft systems.

Direct flight-control experience is required for this position. The successful candidate may have a stronger background in either firmware/software or electrical hardware and avionics. We do not expect one person to be an expert in both.

What is important is a strong understanding of UAS flight-control systems and how the flight controller interacts with the aircraft as a complete system.

This is a hands-on role working directly with flight controllers, aircraft hardware, embedded systems, sensors, communications, propulsion systems, and flight-test data.

Key Responsibilities

• Integrate, configure, test, and troubleshoot UAS flight-control systems.
• Support flight-controller setup, parameter configuration, tuning, and validation.
• Diagnose aircraft stability, control, navigation, communication, and flight-performance issues.
• Analyze flight logs, telemetry, sensor data, and aircraft behavior to identify root causes.
• Integrate flight controllers with GPS/GNSS, IMUs, magnetometers, barometers, ESCs, motors, telemetry, communications systems, and other aircraft components.
• Develop and execute bench, ground, and flight-testing procedures.
• Validate new aircraft configurations, components, firmware releases, and flight-control changes.
• Support development and testing of failsafes, flight modes, autonomous functionality, and other flight-control features.
• Troubleshoot complex aircraft issues across firmware, avionics, electrical hardware, propulsion, sensors, and communications.
• Work with engineering, production, and operations teams to move new aircraft and system improvements from development into production.
• Provide engineering-level support for flight-control issues identified during production or field operations.
• Document aircraft configurations, parameters, test results, technical issues, and corrective actions.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Robotics, or a related technical field, or equivalent relevant experience.
• Hands-on experience with UAS or autonomous aircraft flight-control systems.
  
• Experience configuring, integrating, tuning, developing, or troubleshooting flight controllers.
• Understanding of aircraft stability, control, navigation, sensors, and flight-control architecture.
• Experience analyzing flight logs, telemetry, or other flight-test data.
• Experience integrating flight controllers with aircraft sensors, propulsion systems, communications, and other onboard systems.
• Strong technical troubleshooting and root-cause analysis skills.
• Ability and willingness to work directly with aircraft during bench testing, ground testing, and flight testing.

Hardware / Avionics Experience

Experience in one or more of the following is valuable:

• Flight-control electronics and avionics integration
• Electrical system design and troubleshooting
• Sensors, GPS/GNSS, communications, and telemetry systems
• ESC, motor, and propulsion-system integration
• CAN, UART, SPI, I2C, or similar communication protocols
• Wiring, harnesses, connectors, PCBs, and electrical schematics
• Electronics prototyping and component-level troubleshooting

Firmware / Software Experience

Experience in one or more of the following is valuable:

• Embedded firmware development
• C/C++ or similar embedded programming
• Flight-control or autopilot software
• PX4, ArduPilot, or similar flight-control platforms
• Flight-control algorithms, control loops, or autonomous functionality
• Firmware debugging and validation
• Git or similar version-control systems

Candidates are not expected to have deep expertise in both the hardware and firmware areas. Strong flight-control experience combined with depth in either discipline is preferred.

Preferred Experience

• Development or integration of multirotor, fixed-wing, VTOL, or other unmanned aircraft.
• Experience taking a UAS from prototype through flight testing and production.
• Flight-controller tuning and aircraft performance optimization.
• Autonomous flight, mission planning, or navigation systems.
• Experience developing or validating flight-critical features and failsafes.
• Experience supporting UAS manufacturing or field operations.
• FAA Part 107 certification or willingness to obtain certification.

What We're Looking For

Above all, we are looking for a flight-controls person.

You may come from the firmware side and be comfortable working with aircraft hardware, or you may come from the avionics/hardware side and be comfortable working with flight-control software.

Either background can work.

What we need is someone who understands how a flight-control system interacts with the aircraft, can diagnose why an aircraft is not behaving as expected, and can work through the hardware, software, sensor, propulsion, and configuration variables necessary to solve the problem.

This is a hands-on engineering position. You should be equally comfortable analyzing flight data at a computer, troubleshooting an aircraft on the bench, and participating in flight testing in the field.

This is a remote position.