
Guidance Navigation & Controls (GNC) Engineer (Principal / Sr Principal)
Compensation
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Job Description
Description
At Northrop Grumman, our employees have incredible opportunities to work on revolutionary systems that impact people's lives around the world today, and for generations to come. Our pioneering and inventive spirit has enabled us to be at the forefront of many technological advancements in our nation's history - from the first flight across the Atlantic Ocean, to stealth bombers, to landing on the moon. We look for people who have bold new ideas, courage and a pioneering spirit to join forces to invent the future, and have fun along the way. Our culture thrives on intellectual curiosity, cognitive diversity and bringing your whole self to work β and we have an insatiable drive to do what others think is impossible. Our employees are not only part of history, they're making history.Please note that this opportunity is contingent on program funding. Start dates are determined after funding confirmation.
Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems sector is hiring a Principal or Senior Principal Guidance Navigation and Controls (GNC) Engineer to join our Vehicle Engineering team of qualified, diverse individuals in Melbourne, Florida.Β
Responsibilities may include:
Design, develop, implement, verify, and test algorithms, software, and simulation tools to perform GNC of manned aircraft
Develop control laws to meet air vehicle performance, flying qualities and stability margin requirements, both on-ground and in-flight
Develop system and software requirements for GNC features and support requirement verification through test procedure development, lab testing and reporting
Design pilot relief autopilot and associated logic functions
Develop air vehicle system linear and non-linear dynamic simulation models and integrate models into software and hardware-in-the-loop simulation environments
Define and execute performance and flying qualities analysis
Support pilot-in-the-loop simulation handling qualities testing
Analyze air vehicle flight test data and support flight test activities
Utilize excellent communication skills to report program milestones, technical approaches, and findings to GNC as well as program management
This role can be filled as a Principal Engineer (level 3) or Sr Principal Engineer (level 4) depending on the qualifications below.
Basic Qualifications:
Principal Engineer Level: Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in a Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM) discipline and 5 years of relevant experience; OR Master of Science (MS) degree in a STEM discipline and 3 years of relevant engineering and/or lab experience
Sr. Principal Engineer Level: Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in a Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM) discipline and 8 years of relevant experience; OR Master of Science (MS) in a STEM discipline and 6 years of relevant experience or PhD with 4 years of relevant engineering and/or lab experience
Knowledge of fixed-wing aircraft flight dynamics
Experience using linear control principles and tools to design feedback control systems
Experience analyzing non-linear simulations of aircraft closed-loop dynamics
Experience using MATLAB to create, process, analyze, and visually represent data
Must have an active DoD Secret or higher clearance (with a background investigation completed within the last 6 years or currently enrolled into Continuous Evaluation)
Must have the ability to obtain and maintain Special Access Program (SAP) clearance prior to the commencement of employment
Preferred Qualifications:
Experience designing control laws for piloted fixed-wing aircraft, performing handling qualities analyses, and pilot-in-loop evaluations
Experience with control design and analysis processes including the development of the control laws, and hardware/software requirements for air vehicles
Experience designing, developing, and implementing flight software algorithms to support GNC functions for air vehicles
Experience designing, developing, and implementing simulation software to test and verify mission requirements for air vehicles
Experience with navigation functions including the statistical processing of measured data points and their substitution into algorithms simulating physical reality
Experience with guidance functions including the formulation of specific equations to achieve a desired position, orientation, or trajectory
Working knowledge of MIL-STD-1797 flying qualities requirements
Experience creating and executing requirement verification test procedures
Experience using Simulink to model dynamic systems
C/C++ and/or Python Programming Skills
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Job Details
- Category
- Avionics
- Employment Type
- Full time
- Location
- Melbourne, FL 32940, United States
- Posted
- Oct 19, 2025, 08:00 PM
- Listed
- Jan 17, 2026, 12:35 PM
- Last updated
- Jan 17, 2026, 02:26 PM
- Compensation
- $92,600 - $139,000 per year
About Northrop Grumman
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