Pivotal Systems

Pivotal Systems

Senior Systems Engineer – GNC & Flight Controls

Palo Alto, CA · Senior

Sponsorship not specified$150k-$180kDetected 34 days ago
PythonC++CMATLABGitCI/CDData AnalysisJiraEmbedded SystemsAvionicsDO-178Systems EngineeringRoboticsMechanical DesignAerospace EngineeringElectrical EngineeringControlsSimulinkManual TestingCommunicationActuators

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odds of building a lasting career here

59Sponsors, lottery-bound
Cap-exempt (no lottery)0
Sponsors this role80
Entry-level history0
PERM / green-card track0
Lottery odds (Level IV)94
Fits your clock70

Sponsors, but it's cap-subject — you still face the weighted lottery (~61% per draw at Level IV). Good if you win; have a cap-exempt backup on your list.

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Files H-1B transfers

1 transfer filing in the last year, covering 1 worker. Median labor-condition decision: 7 days. An employer that already files transfers is one that can take over an existing H-1B.

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About the role

  • Pivotal is the leader in the emerging market of electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft.
  • Last year we announced our next-generation aircraft, the Helix, which is rapidly progressing toward general release and scalable production in 2026.
  • Mobility is one of the most highly-valued areas of modern technology investments.

Responsibilities

  • Develop, decompose, allocate, and maintain aircraft and subsystem requirements for Guidance, Navigation & Control (GNC), flight controls, estimation, sensing, and related embedded software functions.
  • Own requirements and verification artifacts in Jama, including traceability, relationships, baselines, change management, verification methods, and objective evidence.
  • Develop and maintain Verification & Validation plans, verification matrices, test requirements, procedures, and reports.
  • Review verification results and objective evidence and drive requirements to formal verification closure.
  • Maintain bidirectional traceability from stakeholder and aircraft-level requirements through subsystem/software requirements, implementation, verification activities, and test evidence.
  • Support definition and management of interfaces between GNC, flight-control software, sensors, actuators, flight computers, electrical systems, aircraft dynamics, and other subsystems.
  • Partner with GNC engineers to review MATLAB/Simulink models, control architectures, state machines, mode logic, and simulation results from a Systems Engineering and requirements perspective.
  • Participate in requirements and design reviews including SRR, CoDR, PDR, CDR, TRR, and aircraft or flight-readiness reviews.
  • Support system-level integration, aircraft bring-up, anomaly investigation, requirements clarification, and root-cause activities.
  • We design, develop, and manufacture light eVTOL aircraft and are renowned for the BlackFly aircraft the world's first light eVTOL to fly manned missions and enter the consumer market.

Requirements

  • Bachelor's degree or higher in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Systems Engineering, Robotics, or a related technical discipline.
  • 5+ years of experience developing complex aerospace, automotive, robotics, autonomous, or other safety-critical electromechanical systems.
  • Strong experience with requirements engineering, including requirements definition, decomposition, allocation, traceability, interface definition, change management, and verification closure.
  • Technical experience with Guidance, Navigation & Control, flight controls, controls engineering, vehicle dynamics, state estimation, autonomous systems, or closely related systems.
  • Working knowledge of MATLAB and Simulink, including the ability to understand control models, signal flows, state machines, simulation results, and model-to-requirement relationships.
  • Ability to read and understand embedded software sufficiently to work effectively with implementation teams, including familiarity with C/C++, Python, Git, and software development workflows.
  • Experience defining verification methods and evaluating objective evidence from SIL, HIL, simulation, bench, vehicle, or flight testing.
  • Strong analytical skills and the ability to translate complex system behavior into clear, testable engineering requirements.
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills with demonstrated ability to work across hardware, software, controls, and test organizations.
  • If you are ready for adventure, we invite you to join our amazing team and grow with us.
  • Demonstrated experience developing and executing Verification & Validation activities for complex hardware/software systems.
  • Experience using Jama or a comparable requirements-management environment such as DOORS, Polarion, or Codebeamer
  • Jama experience strongly preferred.

Nice to have

  • Aerospace experience involving flight-control systems, GNC, avionics, autonomous aircraft, UAVs, spacecraft, or other flight-critical systems.
  • Experience with DO-178C software development and verification processes.
  • Familiarity with DO-331 model-based development and verification using MATLAB/Simulink.
  • Familiarity with ARP4754A/ARP4754B, ARP4761, system safety assessments, functional hazard analysis, or other structured aerospace development processes.
  • Experience with ISO 26262 functional safety for automotive systems.
  • Familiarity with ISO 21448 / SOTIF, Automotive SPICE, UL 4600, or other autonomous-vehicle and safety-critical development frameworks.
  • Experience defining and verifying failure behavior, degraded modes, redundancy, monitoring, fault detection, and fault response.
  • Experience with requirements-based testing of control laws, estimators, navigation systems, sensors, actuator-control systems, or autonomous vehicle functions.

Compensation

  • $150k-$180k

Company info

  • Our distinctive tilt-aircraft architecture and scalable platform have been flying for over 10 years.
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This listing is sourced directly from Pivotal Systems's careers page and normalized into a canonical job model.