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Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md). --- # Sentinel - Hypersonic Testbed GN&C Engineer - **Company:** Northrop Grumman - **Location:** Huntsville, AL, United States - **Contract:** Permanent contract - **Skills:** C (Programming Language), Agile Methodology, Algorithm Design, C++ (Programming Language), Hardware-In-The-Loop Simulation, MATLAB, Object-Oriented Software Development, PID Controllers, Software Organization, Safety Critical Systems, Rate Limiting, Gitlab, Git, Deployment Automation, Atlassian Tools, Bitbucket, DODAF, Software Version Control - **Published:** July 17, 2026 - **Apply:** https://www.clearancejobs.com/jobs/9038781/sentinel-hypersonic-testbed-gnc-engineer ## About the Role * Bachelor's degree in STEM and 5 years of experience, 3 years of experience with master's degree, 0 years of experience with PhD. * Must have an active U.S. Government DoD Secret security clearance at time of application, current and within scope, with an investigation date within the last 6 years * Ability to obtain Special Access within a reasonable period as determined by the business needs of the company. * 1 year of autopilot development and control theory specifically focused on tuning and implementing flight control algorithms. * 2 years of experience with Agile Development with DoDAF standards and methods * 2 years of demonstrated experience coding in a higher-level programming language (C, C++, MATLAB/Simulink, etc.) * 3 years of demonstrated experience in guidance, navigation, or control algorithm development and/or analysis for launch vehicles, missiles, spacecraft, and/or aircraft. * Bachelor's degree in STEM and 8 years of experience, 6 years of experience with master's degree, 4 years of experience with PhD. * Must have an active U.S. Government DoD Secret security clearance at time of application, current and within scope, with an investigation date within the last 6 years * Ability to obtain TOP SECRET clearance and Special Access within a reasonable period as determined by the business needs of the company. * 2 years of experience with Agile Development with DoDAF standards and methods * 3 years of autopilot development and control theory specifically focused on tuning and implementing flight control algorithms. * 4 years of demonstrated experience coding in a higher-level programming language (C, C++, MATLAB/Simulink, etc.) * 4 years of demonstrated experience in guidance, navigation, or control algorithm development and/or analysis for launch vehicles, missiles, spacecraft, and/or aircraft. * PhD or Masters advanced degree in Aerospace Engineering or applicable technical discipline * Experience with guidance law design for trajectory shaping and precision impact requirements. * Extensive experience with MATLAB/Simulink * Experience with Object-Oriented Programming * Experience in covariance and CEP analysis * Experience with linear stability analysis to determine control system stability margins * Experience designing, analyzing, and tuning autopilot algorithms for missile, hypersonic, or unmanned aircraft systems. * Strong grasp of both classical and modern control theory, including PID, gain scheduling, state-space control, optimal control, or robust control techniques. * Experience designing gain-scheduled or adaptive flight control systems across a wide flight envelope. * Familiarity with nonlinear control techniques such as dynamic inversion, LQR/LQG, MPC, or adaptive control * Experience developing actuator dynamic models, including bandwidth, rate limiting, position limits, hysteresis, backlash, deadband, and saturation effects. * Experience evaluating actuator performance across varying environmental and operational conditions * Knowledge of state estimation techniques, such as Kalman filtering or complementary filtering. * Experience transitioning theoretical algorithms into flight-ready software using Software-in-the-Loop (SIL) and Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) applications * Experience with a software version control system, such as Git, Gitlab, and/or Bitbucket * Experience with the Atlassian tool set, Agile Development, Model Based Engineering, and Software Development best practices * Experience with certification, airworthiness, testing, or qualification of flight and safety critical systems * Active DoD Top Secret clearance ## Description The engineer in this role will support the technical development of the Hypersonic Testbed vehicles' autopilot for precision at high Mach in Exoatmospheric and Endoatmospheric flight. The engineer is expected to have expertise in both classical and modern control theory for autopilot development (PID controller design, gain scheduling, optimal and robust control techniques). The engineer is responsible for the maturation of existing control algorithms and analysis tools as well as the tuning of the autopilot(s) for emerging missions supporting a variety of SDS Futures Programs. The engineer in this role will support covariance analysis and circular error probable accuracy assessment. In addition to a heavy focus on autopilot development the engineer in this role will: * Participate in engineering review boards, technical interchange meetings and critical milestone reviews * Determine and report incremental performance improvements * Respond to analysis package requests * Perform trajectory assessment and flight analyses * Collaborate with a team of GN&C engineers in an Agile environment to meet critical milestones * Develop and analyze GNC algorithms (Guidance, Navigation, Autopilot) * Develop, verify, and validate complex 6 degrees of freedom vehicle models * Model missile components such as inertial measurement units (IMU), electronic control actuators, and thrust vector control (TVC) systems. * Use C++ and MATLAB and Object-Oriented design * Conduct multidisciplinary research and collaborate with equipment designers and/or hardware engineers in the planning, design, development stages utilizing (M&S) tools systems for safety and mission critical analysis * Work with the GN&C Flight Software Team to automatically generate code from high-level specifications or models, ensuring consistency and reducing manual errors * Will serve on one or more Advanced Programs (SDS Futures' Group) initiatives in the hypersonic arena. ## Related Videos - [Leveraging Large Language Models for Legacy Code Translation: Challenges and Solutions](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1157-leveraging-large-language-models-for-legacy-code-translation-challenges-and-solutions) - [How a Small Team Shrank a Microsoft Monorepo by 94%](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1236-how-a-small-team-shrank-a-microsoft-monorepo-by-94) - [Automated Driving - Why is it so hard to introduce](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/628-automated-driving-why-is-it-so-hard-to-introduce) - [Building a hypercar from scratch](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/607-building-a-hypercar-from-scratch) - [Software stack under and over the hood of the fastest accelerating car in the world](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/221-software-stack-under-and-over-the-hood-of-the-fastest-accelerating-car-in-the-world) - [Git for Code Reviews](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/429-git-for-code-reviews) ## Related Articles - [How software is steering vehicle technology](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/515-how-software-is-steering-vehicle-technology) - [The Prompt Engineer ✍️](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/216-the-prompt-engineer) - [Is Software Engineering Over-Saturated?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/418-is-software-engineering-over-saturated) - [Résumé-Driven Development: How IT trends affect the job market for software developers](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/59-resume-driven-development-how-it-trends-affect-the-job-market-for-software-developers) - [7 Important Tips That Every Software Developer Should Know](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/101-7-important-tips-that-every-software-developer-should-know) - [Highest Paying Tech Companies for Developers](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/220-highest-paying-tech-companies-for-developers)