GNC Lead
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Oct 14, 2026. First seen by Alion on Apr 22, 2026. Hypersonica scores A on the Alion truth index.
What you'll do
Own and lead Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) as a core vehicle capability, taking responsibility from early concept through flight-ready performance.
Define the GNC architecture and strategy for hypersonic vehicles, ensuring guidancelaws, navigation approaches, and control systems work as a coherent whole.
Develop and validateclosed-loop GNC solutions suitable for high-speed, high-dynamic, and contested flight environments.
Lead the creation and maturation of high-fidelity GNC models, including 3-DoF and 6-DoF simulations, and ensure alignment with flight physics and vehicle dynamics.
Work tightly with Systems Engineering to ensure requirements, verification plans, and performance margins are clear, owned, and defensible.
Collaborate closely with avionics, software, mechanical, and HIL teams to ensure GNC algorithms are implementable, testable, and robust in real hardware.
Own GNC performance through HIL, ground test, and flight test, analysingresults, closing gaps, and iterating designs at pace.
Set technical direction and standards for GNC development, balancing rigourwith speed in a fast-moving, prototype-driven environment.
Act as the technical authority for GNC decisions, trade-offs, and risk acceptance.
Build and lead a small, highly capable GNC team, setting expectations for quality, ownership, and delivery.
Who you are
A senior GNC engineer or technical leader with deep experience in guidance, navigation, and control for aerospace or missile systems.
Strong grounding in control theory, estimation, and flight dynamics, with practical experience applying these to real, closed-loop systems.
Experienced developing and validating6-DoF GNC models, and comfortable reasoning about vehicle-level behaviour, not just algorithms in isolation.
Comfortable operating across software, avionics, and systems boundaries, with an instinct for integration and testability.
Experienced taking GNC systems beyond simulation, through HIL, integration, and flight test, and learning quickly from real data.
Able to operateas both a hands-on technical contributor and a leader, setting direction while still engaging deeply with the work.
Calm, decisive, and technically credible under pressure, with the judgement to make irreversible decisions when required.
Comfortable working in defence, high-consequence, or safety-critical environments where performance margins matter.
Motivated by building sovereign, world-class flight capability, not incremental optimisationor academic exercises.
What we offer
A mission driven environment with the opportunity to work on one of Europe’s most consequential defencechallenges, with direct impact on sovereign capability and security.
Daily collaboration with top experts across engineering, operations, and defence, with real opportunity to learn from the best, contribute, and grow.
High ownership and autonomy; no time tracking, no micromanagement, justclear objectivesand accountability for outcomes.
A fast pacedenvironment where good ideasare implemented quickly, and feedback from test and flight drives real decisions.
A culture that values clarity, integrity, and excellence, and supports people who take initiative and push boundaries responsibly.
Competitive compensation and real share options aligned to responsibility and impact, not tenure or hierarchy.