To connect the world, we must reflect the world. At Virgin Hyperloop, we’re bringing together unique perspectives, empowering our community to celebrate all voices, and creating equal opportunities to build, grow, and thrive. 

WHY WE NEED YOU

The control systems team is looking for a principal engineer capable to lead a team of highly skilled engineers in the design, implementation, integration, and verification of the Virgin Hyperloop POD motion control. The role requires a proven record of flight control experience in a technical leadership position, and a proven ability to deliver. The candidate will report to the Senior Director of Engineering and Control Systems Architect.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

Lead a team of talented engineers in:

• Modeling (linear and non-linear) of mechanical, electromagnetic and electrical plants.
• The Design, implementation, integration, verification of safety-critical and fault tolerant motion control laws for levitation, guidance, braking, and propulsion subsystems of the pod; motion control laws for pod
• The Stability, safety, and reliability analysis of pod motion control laws
• The Control law and state machine design for levitation, guidance, propulsion and braking.
• The definition of the algorithms for monitoring and protection at all levels (actuator to pod); include fault detection, isolation and control reconfiguration
• Interfacing with other Controls Engineers, Embedded Systems, Propulsion, Power Electronics teams, and system integration.

Additional responsibilities:

• Generate team and individual goals aligned with company milestones and objectives, and enable the team to meet the set goals.
• Mentor/coach team members, and help them generate personal development plans to enable their growth and learning
• Manage risks and issues and develop mitigation plans at all levels (short term and long term up to certification) to meet company milestones
• Manage day to day activities of team members

WHAT YOU'VE DONE

• Minimum of a Master’s degree in engineering, focused on motion planning of a mechatronic system
• Experience in safety critical systems and fault tolerant control design
• Experience in design, implementation, integration, verification of complex systems
• Deep knowledge in constrained trajectory optimization for multi-axis mechatronic systems with a preference for autonomous vehicles
• Deep knowledge in convex non-linear constrained optimization techniques
• Deep knowledge in feedforward control
• Deep knowledge in classic, optimal, robust, and adaptive control techniques and implementation (loop-shaping, Lyapunov, H-infinity, sliding mode control, LQG/LTR, model adaptive identification controllers, fuzzy-logic, etc)
• Deep knowledge in MIMO control of highly redundant systems
• Deep knowledge in stability/robustness characterization for highly non-linear systems
• Experience in flexible mode analysis in the context of motion control
• Experience in autonomous vehicle controls development
• Expert in Matlab, Simulink, Stateflow
• Deep understanding of mechanical, electromagnetic and power electronics systems

NICE TO HAVE

• Completion of at least one commercial vehicle (manned/un-manned) program or motion control product with significant ownership in one or more of the following categories: system dynamics modeling, motion control algorithm design and implementation, sensor integration and calibration, integration of motor and power electronics, power electronics, electromagnetic transducers, and vehicle dynamics analysis and modeling
• Statistical estimation techniques (Kalman, extended Kalman, scented/unscented Kalman)
• System and state identification techniques (extended state observers)
• Digital signal processing and sensor fusion
• Low level implementation of digital controllers
• Controls software development for complex distributed systems on multiple target platforms with safety-critical applications
• Software-in-the-loop; hardware-in-the-loop testing of embedded systems; ground or flight test
• Validating computational models through experimental data analysis and system identification
• Familiarity with ARP4754, ARP4761, DO-178, DO-297, or equivalent

WHY VIRGIN HYPERLOOP

• Our Benefits: medical (including infertility & mental health), dental, vision, life, FSA, HSA, 401k, and more 
• Your Wellbeing: flexible work schedules, unlimited PTO, and 16 weeks of paid parental leave