Staff Engineer, Core Flight Controls

Merlin (NASDAQ: MRLN) is a publicly traded aerospace and defense company building a non-human pilot to deliver full-stack autonomy for any aircraft from takeoff to touchdown. The Merlin Pilot autonomy system powers a growing range of aircraft and mission profiles and has been proven through hundreds of autonomous flights from Merlin's global flight test facilities, including Kerikeri, New Zealand; Smithfield, Rhode Island; and soon, Bedford, Massachusetts. Headquartered in Boston, Merlin is expanding its organization to accelerate the development and deployment of its autonomy platform, helping customers solve some of aviation's most pressing challenges, from pilot shortages to improving flight safety. Backed by some of the world's leading investors prior to its public listing, Merlin continues to advance the certification and commercialization of autonomous flight across commercial and defense aviation.

About You

You are an experienced flight controls engineer passionate about autonomous flight who wants to contribute to making airplanes fly themselves. You are familiar with fixed wing aircraft and the classical and modern methods used to control them automatically. You know how to use industry standard tools for this work, and you are excited to work on novel applications.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement flight controls for our aircraft automation system.

• Decompose system requirements into low level flight controls requirements.

• Help create and use the simulation tools needed for development and testing including.

• Simulink control law modeling, analysis using MATLAB and Python.

• Participate in flight testing for system identification and verification of control law performance on multiple aircraft types.

• Own the flight control system from end-to-end and be responsible for product delivery to programs and customers.

• Collaborate across Merlin to develop novel, certifiable systems to solve the toughest problems in aviation and autonomy.

Qualifications

• BS in Aerospace/Mechanical/Electrical Engineering.

• 10+ years of experience developing control systems for fixed wing aircraft, with demonstrated understanding of fixed wing aircraft dynamics, classical and modern control design / analysis.

• Experience decomposing systems requirements into high level requirements for both outer loop and inner loop control design.

• Experience working in Model Based Development and certification of flight control systems, including proficiency in MATLAB/Simulink or another model-based development toolset.

• Experience designing, implementing, and testing software for real-time systems.

• Experience with linear model development, linear analysis and frequency domain gain tuning techniques.

Nice to Have

• MS/PhD in Aerospace Engineering and/or Controls.

• Experience developing never-before-flown control systems.

• Experience extracting linear state space models from flight test data.

• Experience working directly with customers and being a company representative.

• Pilot license.

• Proficiency in C/C++ or Python.

Logistics

• We welcome remote applicants for this role, with a preference for candidates based in or willing to relocate to Boston, MA for a hybrid work schedule at our HQ.

Merlin Labs offers an innovative, entrepreneurial, and team-focused startup environment. We also offer a top-notch benefits package (health, dental, life, flexible paid time off, and 401k with match) and work/life integration. Being part of the Merlin team allows you to become part of a small team that supports professional development while working together to achieve our mission.

Merlin Labs is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, genetic information, sex (including pregnancy), gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, military service or obligation or disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law. All job offers are contingent upon the candidate passing background and reference checks.

At this time, we are unable to provide visa sponsorship or consider candidates who require visa transfers. Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States without the need for visa sponsorship now or in the future.

In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire.

If you require reasonable accommodation in completing an application, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, please direct your inquiries to: [link for members]

Merlin Labs does not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than directly from candidates.