Controls Engineer Plc Programming Jobs in Tucson, AZ

Autopilot Design | Stability & Control | Supersonic / Hypersonic Flight Envelope

Job Title Senior Guidance Navigation and Controls

Location On-site preferred, Tucson, Arizona

Employment Type Full Time

Department GNC / Flight Dynamics & Controls

Reports To Shawn Gilmore

Salary Range $145,000 to $190,000

Equity Yes

Tiberius Aerospace is a cutting-edge Aerospace and Defense company delivering advanced, mission-critical technologies for government and private sector customers. The company focuses on high-performance aerospace systems, secure engineering solutions, and the development of complex hardware built for demanding operational environments. Tiberius is scaling quickly and is looking for engineers who can operate with ownership, urgency, and technical discipline in a high-stakes environment.

Tiberius Aerospace is seeking a Senior Guidance Navigation & Controls Engineer to lead autopilot design, stability analysis, and control law development for Sceptre across its full flight envelope. This role owns the flight control system architecture from gun-launch transient dynamics through supersonic and hypersonic ramjet cruise, including control surface sizing, actuator specification, and control law design. You will be the aerodynamic-control interface owner, the technical lead for all GN&C autopilot milestone content, and the program's authority on vehicle stability, control authority, and autopilot performance.

• Lead flight control system design including autopilot architecture, control law development, and gain scheduling from transonic through hypersonic flight regimes.
• Perform stability analysis using aerodynamic databases and define stability margin requirements for the Sceptre flight envelope.
• Analyze gun-launch transient dynamics including muzzle exit stability, setback loads, and bore-rider interactions with control surfaces.
• Define control surface geometry, placement, and actuation system requirements including hinge moment, torque, bandwidth, and slew rate.
• Develop and validate control laws in MATLAB and Simulink and define requirements for embedded flight software implementation.
• Lead control system performance verification covering closed-loop bandwidth, disturbance rejection margins, and robustness to aerodynamic uncertainty.
• Support wind tunnel test planning for control surface effectiveness measurement and dynamic derivative data acquisition.
• Lead GN&C autopilot technical content at milestone reviews and produce supporting technical documentation.

• Develop and maintain linear analysis tools in order to assess stability margins, bandwidth, and control authority.
• Perform nonlinear simulation of the closed-loop flight control system in the 6-DOF trajectory simulation to evaluate autopilot robustness.
• Analyze gun-launch and muzzle exit dynamics and define control surface deployment timing and authority constraints during the launch transient.
• Define actuator bandwidth, slew rate, and torque requirements based on aerodynamic hinge moment data and closed-loop control performance requirements.
• Develop gain scheduling logic for the full flight envelope and validate gain set transitions across
• Perform sensitivity analysis and evaluate control law robustness to aerodynamics , mass properties, propulsion, sensor and actuator errors and uncertainty.
• Support structural dynamics mode identification from test data and update structural notch filter designs to maintain stability margins.
• Develop and maintain the flight control system requirements document and ensure flow-down to autopilot algorithm and flight software specifications.

• Interface with the aerodynamics team to define aero database format, coverage, and uncertainty bounds required for control law development.
• Coordinate with the structures team on control surface structural design, hinge line loads, and fin deployment mechanisms.
• Support propulsion team interfaces on ramjet throttle-body aerodynamic interaction and CG shift effects on stability.
• Support range safety planning and define control system-related safing and flight termination logic for test activities.
• Participate in design reviews and evaluate engineering changes for stability and control impact.

• B.S. or M.S. in Aerospace Engineering or Mechanical Engineering.
• 8 or more years of flight dynamics and control law design experience on guided munitions, missiles, or high-performance aerospace vehicles.
• Demonstrated expertise in classical and modern control design such as PID, LQR, H-infinity, mu-synthesis, gain scheduling, and/or modeling following control.
• Strong background in 6-DOF simulation and model integration for control law evaluation.
• Proficiency in MATLAB and Simulink for control law design, linear analysis, system identification and nonlinear simulation.
• Experience with stability analysis and robustness verification under model uncertainty.
• Must be a U.S. citizen and eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. government security clearance.

• Experience with fin-stabilized or spin-stabilized gun-launched projectile dynamics including Magnus effect, spin-yaw coupling, and dynamic stability derivatives.
• Background with ramjet or rocket-powered high-speed vehicle flight control design.
• Familiarity with deployable or pop-out fin control surface design and hinge mechanism integration..
• Experience with adaptive or robust control methods for vehicles with significant aerodynamic uncertainty.
• Background in control-structures interaction analysis for flexible or articulated fin configurations.
• Active U.S. Secret or Top Secret security clearance.

• A flight controls engineer who can design a gain-scheduled autopilot for a supersonic ramjet system from first principles and defend the stability margins at a CDR.
• Someone who understands gun-launch dynamics and can define what the control system must do in the first 50 milliseconds of flight.
• A technically rigorous lead who owns the aerodynamic-controls interface and can identify control design risk early from aero data quality.
• A high-ownership GN&C engineer who can deliver verified control laws and close formal stability margin requirements at a TRR.

Tiberius Aerospace offers competitive base compensation commensurate with experience, equity participation, comprehensive health benefits, and 401(k). Specific compensation will be discussed during the interview process.

This role provides the opportunity to design the flight control system for a gun-launched ramjet munition with no direct precedent in the precision fires market. The Senior GN&C Engineer will define the control architecture, own the stability analysis, design and validate the gain schedule, and lead the flight controls program through formal verification. As Tiberius grows, this person will shape how the company builds its flight dynamics capability and may lead the GN&C function on follow-on programs.

Tiberius Aerospace Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The Company maintains policies and practices designed to prevent discrimination or harassment against any qualified applicant or employee to the extent prohibited by federal, state, and local laws and regulations.

Discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, citizenship, sex, age, marital status, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, military or veteran status, gender identity, gender expression, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law is prohibited.

If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to complete any part of the application process, or need an alternative method for applying, you may contact jpetrina@tiberius.com for assistance.

Tiberius Aerospace Inc. participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your I-9 Form information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S.