Flight Control & Autonomy Software Engineer (UAV Systems)

Company Description

We are an Indian aerospace startup building next-generation autonomous aerial systems for defense applications. We are developing platforms designed for speed, precision, and survivability.

Role Introduction

We are seeking a UAV Autonomy & Flight Software Engineer to join our core engineering team.

In this role, you will design and implement flight autonomy, sensor fusion, mission logic, and swarm-ready software for unmanned aerial systems. You will work across flight control stacks, onboard perception, navigation, and decision-making software, taking systems from simulation hardware real flight testing.

This is a hands-on engineering role focused on real UAV behavior in the field, not just simulations.

Key Responsibilities

Flight Autonomy & Mission Software

Design and implement autonomous flight behaviors (takeoff, navigation, mission execution, recovery)

Develop mission logic: waypoint navigation, loitering, dynamic rerouting, fail-safe behaviors

Support both multirotor and fixed-wing flight profiles

Implement autonomy for high-speed, long-range, and time-critical missions

Sensor Fusion & Navigation

Implement and tune sensor fusion pipelines using:

IMU

GNSS (GPS / multi-constellation)

Barometer

Magnetometer

Airspeed / pitot (where applicable)

Work with EKF / complementary filterbased state estimation

Design navigation logic for GPS-denied or degraded environments (INS-based dead reckoning,

degraded modes)

Swarm & Distributed Autonomy

Develop multi-vehicle coordination logic (leaderfollower, redundancy, task handover)

Design decentralized behaviors where vehicles can continue missions despite node loss

Implement inter-vehicle communication for shared state and coordination

Flight Control Stack Integration

Work directly with PX4 and/or ArduPilot at configuration and code level

Integrate autonomy modules with flight control loops

Modify or extend autopilot behavior when required by mission logic

Simulation, Testing & Validation

Develop and validate autonomy using SITL / HITL

Use MATLAB/Simulink, Gazebo, X-Plane, or similar tools for modeling and testing

Analyze real flight logs and iteratively improve performance

Support real-world ground tests and flight tests

Required Technical Skills

Core Flight & Autonomy

Strong understanding of UAV flight dynamics

Experience with autonomous navigation and control

Familiarity with state estimation and sensor fusion concepts

Software & Programming

C / C++ for flight-critical and embedded software

Python for tooling, analysis, and mission scripting

Experience with Linux-based embedded systems

Communication & Middleware

MAVLink

CAN / DroneCAN

UART, I2C, SPI

ROS / ROS2 (preferred)

Simulation & Analysis

MATLAB / Simulink

SITL / HITL workflows

Log analysis and debugging of real flight data

Education & Experience

B.Tech / M.Tech in Aerospace, Robotics, Electrical, Computer Science, or related fields

35 years of hands-on experience in UAV autonomy, flight software, or robotics systems

What We Look For

You understand how UAVs behave in real flight, not just theory

You can reason about failure modes and edge cases

You are comfortable debugging issues across software, sensors, and flight behavior

You think in terms of systems, not isolated features

How to Apply

Please include:

Resume (PDF)

GitHub / portfolio (if available)

A short note on a real UAV autonomy or flight software problem you worked on