What are the responsibilities and job description for the UAV / Flight Control Engineer position at Alert Venture Foundry?
About the Role
Alert Venture Foundry (AVF) is a robotics-focused startup studio building next-generation intelligent systems that operate in complex, real-world environments. Our work spans embedded systems, autonomy, and advanced robotic platforms.
We’re looking for a UAV / Flight Control Engineer with deep hands-on experience flying drones and a strong understanding of flight control systems. In this role, you’ll work across the full flight stack, from low-level stabilization and control to higher-level autonomy, while directly testing and iterating on real hardware.
This is a highly hands-on role for someone who not only understands flight theory and control systems, but also has real-world experience flying, tuning, and pushing aerial systems to their limits.
This role will be 4 days per week onsite in North Billerica, MA, and one day per week from home.
What You’ll Do
- Design, implement, and tune flight control systems for multi-rotor and aerial platforms.
- Work directly with and modify PX4 flight stack, including control loops, estimators, and system behavior.
- Develop flight and end effector control pipelines.
- Conduct flight testing, tuning, and validation in real-world environments.
- Contribute to autonomy capabilities, including navigation, stabilization, and mission execution.
- Collaborate with embedded, controls, and autonomy teams to bring systems from prototype to deployment.
- Build and use tools for simulation, telemetry, and post-flight analysis.
- Support rapid prototyping and iteration on new aerial platforms and configurations.
What We’re Looking For
- 5 years of experience in UAVs, robotics, aerospace, or flight control systems.
- Strong hands-on experience flying and tuning drones, including real-world testing and debugging.
- Familiarity with PX4 or Ardupilot, including the ability to modify and extend flight control behavior.
- Experience with Flight Control software like QGroundControl or Mission Planner.
- Strong programming skills in C and/or Python.
- Experience with control systems (PID, MPC, state feedback) and fully actuated dynamics.
- Experience with state estimation and sensor fusion (e.g., EKF, IMU/GPS integration).
- Familiarity with developing multi-rotor dynamic models in simulation tools (e.g., Gazebo, Isaac Sim) and real-time system debugging.
- Comfort working in a fast-paced, prototyping-heavy environment.
- Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD in Robotics, Aerospace Engineering, or related field.
Bonus Points For
- Experience with autonomous navigation, VIO/SLAM, or onboard perception systems.
- Background in high-performance flight (e.g., drone racing, aggressive flight, research platforms).
- Experience mentoring engineers or leading small technical efforts.
- Experience building or modifying custom drones or flight hardware.
- Experience developing interaction or force controllers for robots.
- Experience with ROS2 middleware integration.
- Experience with NVIDIA Jetson platforms and deploying software on edge compute devices.
- FAA Part 107 license.
Why AVF
- Work on real-world aerial systems that go beyond basic flight into advanced autonomy and interaction.
- Own critical parts of the flight control stack, from code to field testing.
- Collaborate with a highly technical team across embedded systems, controls, and robotics.
- Operate in a fast-paced environment where ideas quickly move from concept to flight.
- Help shape the direction of next-generation robotics ventures.
AVF is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome candidates from all backgrounds who are excited to push the boundaries of aerial robotics and autonomous systems.