Key responsibilities
Develop, integrate, and maintain real-time flight control firmware for multirotor, fixed-wing, and VTOL (quadplane/tiltrotor) platforms.
Work directly with both the ArduPilot and PX4 codebases: contribute patches, extend modes and controllers, and resolve integration issues across each stack.
Implement and tune control loops (attitude, rate, position, altitude), state estimation (EKF / sensor fusion), and failsafe logic.
Design and bring up new sensors and actuators — IMUs, barometers, GPS, magnetometers, ESCs, servos.
Own the MAVLink telemetry and command interfaces between vehicles and ground control stations.
Perform hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) and field testing; diagnose failures from logs and live data.
Define and maintain autopilot architecture: task scheduling, memory layout, real-time guarantees, and safety-critical design practices.
Collaborate with mechanical, power, and systems teams on vehicle integration and certification of new platforms.
Write clean, well-documented C/C++ code; review others' work; maintain build toolchains and CI.
Required qualifications
3+ years of embedded software experience in a real-time environment (C/C++, bare-metal or RTOS).
Strong working knowledge of both ArduPilot and PX4, including each one's architecture, sensor fusion, and control structure — comfortable switching between the two.
Hands-on experience building, flying, and maintaining at least two of: multirotor, fixed-wing, VTOL (quadplane/tiltrotor).
Solid understanding of flight dynamics and control theory: PID/LQR, attitude and rate control, thrust allocation.
Experience with sensor fusion and state estimation (complementary/EKF filters) and the ability to interpret filter behaviour from logs — including ArduPilot's EKF3 and PX4's ECL/EKF2.
Familiarity with microcontroller development (e.g., STM32, Cortex-M), interrupts, DMA, and low-level driver work.
Proficiency with MAVLink; working knowledge of telemetry and GCS integration (Mission Planner / QGroundControl).
Strong debugging skills: logic analysers, oscilloscopes, serial logs, and live parameter tuning.
Preferred qualifications
Broad experience across multiple UAV platform types and mission profiles — e.g., long-endurance fixed-wing, heavy-lift multirotor, and complex VTOL transition logic (quadplane, tiltrotor, lift-and-cruise).
Upstream contributions to ArduPilot or PX4 (merged PRs) — a strong plus.
Familiarity with PX4's uXRCE-DDS middleware.
Knowledge of ROS 2 for vehicle-level autonomy integration.
Experience with formal safety processes, code certification (DO-178C / EN 9100), or model-based design.
Background in aerodynamics or power systems for small unmanned vehicles.
Nice to have
Experience building flight controllers from schematic level.
Contributions to related open-source projects (MAVLink, SITL, GCS tooling).
Field deployment experience across multiple vehicle types and environments.