Principal Guidance-Navigation-Controls Engineer (AUV)

Location: Ventura, California, United States; 100% on-site. Full-time schedule of at least 40 hours per week, Monday–Friday, with core hours around 9:00 am–3:00 pm.

Salary: $235,000–$260,000 USD per year

Company

hirify.global delivers mission and technical expertise for national security, technology, defense, and maritime challenges.

What you will do

• Design, develop, and field-validate autonomous mission behaviors for autonomous undersea vehicles.
• Translate mission requirements into robust, testable autonomy logic in collaboration with GNC experts, software developers, and operators.
• Implement search patterns, obstacle avoidance, adaptive replanning, and other autonomous mission algorithms.
• Develop vehicle dynamics models and control architecture across vehicle platforms.
• Define verification and validation plans, analyze field-test data, diagnose anomalies, and refine algorithms.
• Provide technical strategy and mentorship to mid-level and junior GNC engineers.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Robotics, Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a closely related field; a Master’s degree is preferred.
• 15+ years of professional experience developing autonomy algorithms for undersea vehicles.
• Professional experience designing guidance and control systems for maritime platforms.
• Experience with simulation environments for autonomous-systems development and testing.
• Strong proficiency in MATLAB/Simulink and software languages used for algorithm development.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including presentations to technical and customer audiences.

Nice to have

• Direct experience with AUV autonomy frameworks or stacks.
• Experience working with operators and GNC specialists.
• Familiarity with real-time embedded software environments.
• Experience supporting autonomous systems.

Culture & Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• Health Savings Account with a company contribution.
• Annual paid time off, paid holidays, and paid parental leave.
• 401(k) with a company match.
• Training and development opportunities, award programs, and company-sponsored events.