Staff Guidance Navigation and Control (GNC) Engineer, Air Dominance & Strike - Advanced Effects

Costa Mesa · Costa Mesa, CA (OC-00) · USD 191,000-292,000 · Posted Sep 29, 2026

At a glance

The Staff Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) Engineer will drive the design, development, testing, and implementation of flight system technologies for advanced tactical missile systems and hypersonic strike and defense systems.
This role involves working within the Flight Engineering team to develop GNC architectures for subsonic, supersonic, and hypersonic autonomous systems.
The position requires active involvement in the full system lifecycle, including modeling, simulation, and frequent ground and flight test experimentation.

Develop, implement, and test algorithms for guidance, navigation, and control systems.
Design, implement, and assess GNC architectures considering sensors, actuators, and algorithms.
Participate in all phases of system development from concept to operation.
Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams including systems, flight software, and test engineers.
Contribute to design reviews, safety assessments, and system documentation.
Use simulation and analysis tools to verify GNC models and system performance.
Provide system engineering expertise for GNC development.
Troubleshoot and resolve GNC system issues during design, testing, and operational phases.
Maintain knowledge of latest technologies and trends in GNC engineering.

BS in Robotics, Computer Science, Electrical, Mechanical, Mechatronics, Aerospace Engineering or related field with focus on dynamics and control.
12 or more years of experience in Guidance, Navigation & Control engineering or related technical experience.
Strong theoretical knowledge of flight mechanics, classical and modern control theory, estimation, and filtering techniques.
Experience with developing GNC solutions for flight systems.
Proficiency with GNC simulation tools like MATLAB, Simulink and related toolboxes.
Familiarization with 6-DOF simulations.
Must be eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. Top Secret clearance.

MS or Ph.D. in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical Engineering, or related field.
Practical experience developing GNC designs for high speed flight systems and re-entry vehicles.
Practical experience with Explicit Model Following, Dynamic Inversion, and Adaptive Control techniques.
Experience generating C or C++ code from Simulink models.
Experience writing code in C/C++.
Familiarity with agile and Lean product development methodologies such as Scrum.
Experience using Jira, Git, GitHub, or GitLab.
Current Active U.S. Top Secret clearance.