Senior Flight Controls Engineer

1w1 week ago

Skyways

Remote · Full-time · $150,000 – $220,000

About this role

At Skyways, we are building a new form of air transportation with fully autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for faster, safer goods and people movement. Flight Controls Engineers own the design, implementation, and validation of control systems that keep aircraft stable across real-world operations. You'll see your work go from simulation to hardware to flight test quickly.

Design, implement, and tune flight control algorithms for autonomous fixed-wing and VTOL aircraft. Own control laws end to end, including requirements definition, simulation, flight code, and validation. Analyze flight test data and logs to diagnose issues and improve performance.

Develop and maintain control system models in simulation environments. Collaborate closely with avionics, autonomy, mechanical, and flight test teams to integrate and validate systems. Support ground and flight testing, including on-site test campaigns.

Skyways is a fast-growing Austin startup backed by Y Combinator and a major U.S. Air Force STRATFI contract. Vehicles are already in production with paying commercial customers. Join to blend rapid iteration with real-world deployment and lead aviation innovation.

Requirements

Strong fundamentals in control theory, dynamics, and state estimation
Experience implementing flight or vehicle control systems in production code
Comfort working in C++ and Python in embedded or real-time systems
Hands-on experience with simulation, controller tuning, and flight or field testing
Ability to reason from first principles and debug complex, cross-disciplinary problems
Comfort operating in an early-stage environment with incomplete requirements and fast iteration cycles
U.S. citizen, U.S. permanent resident, or candidate from specific countries authorized under export control regulations

Responsibilities

Design, implement, and tune flight control algorithms for autonomous fixed-wing and VTOL aircraft
Own control laws end to end, including requirements definition, simulation, flight code, and validation
Develop and maintain control system models in simulation environments to support analysis and testing
Analyze flight test data and logs to diagnose issues and improve performance
Collaborate closely with avionics, autonomy, mechanical, and flight test teams to integrate and validate control systems
Support ground and flight testing, including on-site test campaigns when needed
Continuously improve robustness, fault tolerance, and performance across a growing operational envelope