GNC and Autonomy Engineer-Associate Staff
Date: Oct 21, 2026
Location: Lexington, MA, US
Company: MIT Lincoln Laboratory
The Tactical Autonomy Group develops and delivers AI-enabled autonomy and robotic systems where it counts - at the tactical edge. As an FFRDC, we combine academic depth in algorithms, controls, and machine learning, the execution speed of industry, and direct mission pull from operational end-users to solve problems others can’t. We don’t stop at papers: we design, build, integrate, field-test, and transition autonomy stacks - spanning perception, decision-making, learning, and control - into real operations across the DoD and Intelligence Community.
Position Description
In this role you will contribute to navigation and estimation teams that are developing autonomous systems and payloads for sea, ground, and air domains. Many of the projects incorporate GPS-denied capabilities (e.g. magnetic, vision, radio frequency) for single and multi-agent concepts. Individual contributors leverage experience in state estimation, optimization, and object-oriented programming to contribute throughout the full Lifecyle of a project from concept definition to field testing. In addition to direct project contributions, staff are encouraged to explore cutting-edge approaches and execute publishable research.
Given the wide range of work in our Group, we seek the following attributes
- MS in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical/Computer Engineering, Robotics, Computer Science, or a related field; or a BS with 2+ years of relevant experience.
- Strong technical foundation in guidance, navigation, estimation, or control, including experience with techniques such as optimal/robust control, trajectory optimization, Kalman or particle filtering, factor graphs, SLAM, or related methods.
- Experience developing algorithms or software for robotic, autonomous, or other dynamic physical systems, with an interest in implementing and testing them on real hardware.
- Strong C++ programming skills in a Linux environment and the ability to develop clean, maintainable, well-architected software.
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills, with the ability to work effectively on multidisciplinary teams.
Exceptional candidates may also have experience in one or more of the following
- Resilient and GPS-denied navigation, including visual, inertial, magnetic, RF, terrain-relative, or multi-modal navigation.
- Advanced guidance and control, including nonlinear, optimal, robust, adaptive, or model-predictive control; trajectory generation; and
- Background in aerodynamics to facilitate integrated vehicle/control-surface design.
- Sensor fusion and perception, including computer vision, LiDAR, radar, or other sensing modalities used for navigation and autonomy.
- Multi-agent systems, including cooperative localization, distributed estimation, guidance, coordination, or collaborative sensing.
- AI/ML for GNC, including learned dynamics, perception-informed control, reinforcement learning, or hybrid learning/model-based approaches.
- Robotics and software-development tools such as ROS/ROS 2, Python, simulation environments, hardware-in-the-loop testing, or real-time software/operating systems.
- Hands-on experience integrating and field-testing GNC algorithms on air, ground, maritime, or other robotic platforms.
Recent Graduate Hiring Range: $116,400 - $140,000
Experienced Hiring Range: $116,400 - $`182,200
Disclaimer: MIT Lincoln Laboratory provides a typical hiring range as a good faith estimate of what we reasonably expect to offer for this position at the time of posting. The final salary offered to a selected candidate will depend on various factors, including—but not limited to—the scope and responsibilities of the role, the candidate’s experience, skills and education/training, internal equity considerations and applicable legal requirements. This range reflects base salary only and does not include additional forms of compensation or benefits.
At MIT Lincoln Laboratory, our exceptional career opportunities include many outstanding benefits to help you stay healthy, feel supported, and enjoy a fulfilling work-life balance. Benefits offered to employees include:
- Comprehensive health, dental, and vision plans
- MIT-funded pension
- Matching 401K
- Paid leave (including vacation, sick, parental, military, etc.)
- Tuition reimbursement and continuing education programs
- Mentorship programs
- A range of work-life balance options
- ... and much more!
Please visit our Benefits page for more information. As an employee of MIT, you can also take advantage of other voluntary benefits, discounts and perks.
Selected candidate will be subject to a pre-employment background investigation and must be able to obtain and maintain a Secret level DoD security clearance.
MIT Lincoln Laboratory is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, veteran status, disability status, or genetic information; U.S. citizenship is required.
Requisition ID: 43475
Nearest Major Market: Boston
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