Backed by Kleiner Perkins.
About the role
The GNC team at Pivotal develops the flight control and navigation algorithms that let our aircraft fly safely and precisely, including on the Helix family of aircraft. We are looking for a GNC Engineer II who focuses on navigation to design, implement, and verify the state estimation and sensor fusion algorithms. These algorithms estimate the aircraft’s attitude, heading, position, velocity, and other critical states in real time. Found on 1752vc Careers, the job board for startup and VC roles.
What they're looking for
- 2+ years of industry experience in GNC, navigation, or state estimation, or a Master’s or PhD with research focused on estimation or sensor fusion
- Strong foundation in estimation theory, including Kalman filtering (linear, extended, error-state), complementary filtering, and probability and stochastic processes
- Solid understanding of rigid-body kinematics, attitude representations (quaternions, direction cosine matrices, Euler angles), and reference frames (body, NED, ECEF)
- Hands-on experience designing and tuning an estimator on real sensor data such as IMU, GNSS, magnetometer, or barometer, whether through industry, research, student teams, or personal projects
- Proficiency in MATLAB and Simulink for algorithm development, modeling, and simulation
- Proficiency in Python or MATLAB for analyzing test and flight data
More about this role
Pivotal is the leader in the emerging market of electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft. We design, develop, and manufacture light eVTOL aircraft and are renowned for the BlackFly aircraft the world's first light eVTOL to fly manned missions and enter the consumer market.
Efficient, compact, and simple, Pivotal aircraft are designed for a wide range of consumer, public service, and defense applications. Our distinctive tilt-aircraft architecture and scalable platform have been flying for over 10 years. Last year we announced our next-generation aircraft, the Helix, which is rapidly progressing toward general release and scalable production in 2026.
Mobility is one of the most highly-valued areas of modern technology investments. This is the right company, in the right space, the right strategy, at the right time. If you are ready for adventure, we invite you to join our amazing team and grow with us.
The GNC team at Pivotal develops the flight control and navigation algorithms that let our aircraft fly safely and precisely, including on the Helix family of aircraft. We are looking for a GNC Engineer II who focuses on navigation to design, implement, and verify the...
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