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About the Role
We are seeking a Principal Controls Engineer to own the mathematical foundation for precisely targeting drones with lasers. This role involves leading beam control and tracking theory, developing estimation algorithms, managing pointing error budgets, and ensuring system performance through simulation and hands-on field testing.
Responsibilities
- Own control architecture for the beam director, including gimbal and steering mirror loop structure, bandwidth allocation, multi-rate design, and inter-stage handoff.
- Develop target state estimation using Kalman, IMM, and nonlinear filters, fusing radar, EO/IR, and inertial data with latency compensation.
- Implement line-of-sight stabilization and jitter rejection, including inertial stabilization, accelerometer feedforward, notch filtering, and control-structure interaction analysis.
- Manage the pointing error budget and achieve microradian pointing precision against dynamic targets through hands-on experimentation.
- Perform plant modeling and system identification using frequency and time-domain methods, validating with hardware-in-the-loop simulations.
- Conduct robustness and stability analysis, including margins, sensitivity, and worst-case disturbance scenarios.
- Integrate fire control logic, including cue-to-track-to-engage handoff, engagement sequencing, and safety interlocks.
- Rapidly iterate control algorithms from simulation to hardware, achieving kHz-rate loops on embedded targets.
- Provide technical review and risk assessment for controls, estimation, and sensor integration.
- Mentor other engineers through example and hands-on work.
Requirements
- PhD-level depth in control theory and estimation, with expertise in robust control (H-infinity, mu-synthesis, LQG) and optimal estimation (Kalman variants, IMM, nonlinear observers).
- Experience with multi-rate and sampled-data design, adaptive and learning-based disturbance rejection.
- 10+ years of experience closing loops on precision pointing, tracking, or stabilization hardware, including PhD research.
- Experience with microradian-class line-of-sight work on systems like beam directors, fine steering mirrors, gimbaled EO/IR sensors, laser communication terminals, or precision mechatronics.
- Hands-on system identification and plant modeling against real structural dynamics.
- Proven ability to implement real-time control loops in C or C++ on embedded or RTOS targets.
- Comfort acting as the technical anchor for controls on a small team.
- Experience in directed energy or beam control programs, laser communications, EO/IR gimbals, telescope or spacecraft pointing, adaptive optics, or control theory PhD groups transitioning work to hardware.
- Demonstrated ability to own the jitter budget on a pointing system and achieve microradian precision in the field against moving targets.
- Ability to write proofs and C++ code within the same week.
Skills
- Control theory
- Estimation theory
- Robust control
- Optimal estimation
- Kalman filters
- IMM filters
- Nonlinear observers
- Multi-rate design
- Sampled-data design
- Adaptive control
- Learning-based disturbance rejection
- Precision pointing
- Tracking
- Stabilization
- Beam control
- System identification
- Plant modeling
- Real-time implementation
- C++
- Embedded systems
- RTOS
- MATLAB/Simulink
- Python
Location
- San Francisco
- Detroit
Work Type
- Full-time
- Onsite
Experience Level
- Principal
- 10+ years
Education Level
- PhD in Control Systems, Electrical, Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering, Applied Math, or a related field with a dissertation in control or estimation theory.
- MS with a research-grade record of theory work put on fielded hardware
Benefits
- Competitive salary and equity
- United Health Care medical, dental, and vision coverage
- 18 days PTO plus 5 sick days
- Travel to field test events and range days
- Covered daily lunches and office snacks and drinks
- E-bike and scooter stipend up to $500
- Direct access to leadership
- Real ownership over your work
About the Company
- Aurelius Systems is a VC-backed defense tech startup building autonomous, edge-deployed directed energy systems for counter-UAS.
- We build laser weapons to shoot down drones.
- We are a small team of engineers, former US military operators, and subject matter experts scaling America's directed energy dominance.
- We aim to be the first cost-effective, reliable, and robust laser weapon system.
- We operate with a small team, unreasonable output, and a focus on doing the work.
- We have a San Francisco lab, a Detroit manufacturing hub, and field test weekly on our own 400-acre private range.
Equal Opportunity
- This role requires access to export-controlled information or items that require U.S. Person status. As defined by U.S. law, individuals who are any one of the following are considered to be a U.S. Person: (1) U.S. citizens, (2) legal permanent residents (a.k.a. green card holders), and (3) certain protected classes of asylees and refugees, as defined in 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3).