# Principal Robotic Controls Engineer at Aurelius Systems

- Company: Aurelius Systems
- What the company does: Aurelius Systems builds AI-powered directed energy laser defense platforms protecting troops, bases, and infrastructure from UAS drone threats. Backed by General Catalyst.
- Company website: https://aureliussystems.com/
- Type: Startups
- Level: Principal and up
- Location: San Francisco
- Work setup: On-site
- Pay: $250K to $315K base salary per year (USD)
- Posted: 2026-11-05
- Apply by: 2026-12-20
- Apply: https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/aureliussystems/c5734880-a552-408b-bb5f-0d94631aa39a?utm_source=1752vc&utm_medium=careers
- Page: https://www.1752.vc/careers/jobs/aurelius-systems-principal-robotic-controls-engineer/

## About the role

We need a Principal Controls Engineer who owns the math behind putting a laser on a drone and keeping it there. Found on 1752vc Careers, the job board for startup and VC roles.

## What they're looking for

- 10+ years closing loops on precision pointing, tracking or stabilization hardware, PhD research included, on systems that had to meet a measured spec in the field
- Microradian-class line-of-sight work: beam directors, fine steering mirrors, gimbaled EO/IR sensors, laser comm pointing-acquisition-tracking terminals, telescope or spacecraft pointing, or precision mechatronics at equivalent precision
- Hands-on system identification and plant modeling against real structural dynamics, and a record of models that predicted what the hardware then did
- Real-time implementation chops. You've shipped loops in C or C++ on embedded or RTOS targets, or worked tightly with the engineers who did, and you know what latency and quantization do to your margins
- Comfort being the technical anchor for controls on a small team, not the manager of a large one
- Not a fit if: Your controls experience is PID tuning from a block library without the theory to say why it works. You're a theorist who has never closed a loop on real hardware, or a manager without recent hands-on work

Tags: Engineering

Source: 1752vc Careers, https://www.1752.vc/careers/jobs/aurelius-systems-principal-robotic-controls-engineer/