Senior GNC Engineer

Darwin Recruitment are currently hiring for a Senior GNC Engineer on behalf of a company in Germany that was founded in 2021, has 13 employees and are a stealth-mode aerospace startup based in Munich, developing reusable hypersonic flight systems to strengthen European space resilience and sovereignty. Backed by top-tier investors including General Catalyst, 201 Ventures, and ESA BIC Bavaria, they are building breakthrough vehicles at the intersection of defence, orbital logistics, and high-speed atmospheric flight. Now, as they scale their technical team, this company is hiring a Senior GNC Engineer to lead the design and implementation of advanced guidance, navigation, and control systems for hypersonic aircraft, enabling safe, reliable, and precise flight at Mach 5+. This is your chance to work on one of Europe\’s most ambitious aerospace programs before it goes public. Your Role * Own the design, simulation, and implementation of GNC algorithms for reusable hypersonic vehicles * Develop 6-DOF dynamic models, flight control laws, state estimation, and trajectory planning systems * Work cross-functionally with avionics, CFD, and propulsion engineers to tightly integrate guidance and control logic into the full vehicle system * Lead control system verification and validation, including hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) and flight testing * Architect robust navigation and sensor fusion strategies (e.g., GNSS/INS integration) for flight in GPS-degraded or denied environments * Contribute to GNC software architecture and toolchain development for scalable deployment * Participate in high-level system design reviews with internal and external stakeholders * Define flight test procedures and analyze post-flight data for iterative GNC tuning and refinement You\’ll Need * Master\’s or PhD in Aerospace Engineering, Robotics, Control Systems, or a related discipline * 4+ years of experience developing GNC systems for high-speed flight platforms, spacecraft, or missiles * Expertise in flight dynamics, control theory (LQR, MPC, PID, adaptive), and state estimation (Kalman, EKF, UKF)* Proficiency with simulation tools (MATLAB/Simulink, Python, C++) and 6-DOF modeling * Experience with real-time embedded systems and safety-critical software development * Strong understanding of aerodynamic modeling, actuator dynamics, and sensor integration * Familiarity with MIL, SIL, HIL, and flight test instrumentation * EU citizenship or security-clearable status (due to dual-use technology and defense applications) Darwin Recruitment is acting as an Employment Agency in relation to this vacancy.