Control Systems Engineer

At Axon, we’re on a mission to Protect Life. We’re explorers, pursuing society’s most critical safety and justice issues with our ecosystem of devices and cloud software. Like our products, we work better together. We connect with candor and care, seeking out diverse perspectives from our customers, communities and each other.

Life at Axon is fast-paced, challenging and meaningful. Here, you’ll take ownership and drive real change. Constantly grow as you work hard for a mission that matters at a company where you matter.

At Axon, we're on a mission to Protect Life. We're explorers, pursuing society's most critical safety and justice issues with our ecosystem of devices and cloud software. Like our products, we work better together. We connect with candor and care, seeking out diverse perspectives from our customers, communities and each other.

Life at Axon is fast-paced, challenging and meaningful. Here, you'll take ownership and drive real change. Constantly grow as you work hard for a mission that matters at a company where you matter.

The Axon Guidance, Navigation & Control (GNC) team in Brussels 🇧🇪 in the Robotics New Ventures pillar supports critical drone and robotics offerings for Special Forces and Law Enforcement. These robots work together to provide tactical reconnaissance and an advantage during critical, high-risk and stressful missions. The product portfolio includes aerial drones (Thor, Scout) and ground robots (Sigyn) — please see: https://www.axon.com/products/axon-sky-hero.

We are actively working on truly disruptive next-generation drone & robotics technology that we strongly believe will advance our mission to Protect Life.

The GNC team is responsible for flight mode development, control loop tuning, and state estimation, location and in the future navigation across the drone product line. The team works with the PX4 flight controller stack and on ROS 2, implementing the software that makes these drones fly safely and reliably.

As a Control Systems Engineer I on the SkyHero GNC team, you'll implement and test flight modes, tune control loops and state estimators, troubleshoot flight performance issues, and contribute to improving both nominal and degraded flight behaviors.

You'll work closely with the rest of the GNC team, especially the computer vision team working on VIO, but also the Firmware team in Belgium and the Finland Imaging team. This is a software-oriented controls role — you'll spend the majority of your time writing code in C++ (or Rust), while applying your control systems knowledge to real-world flight problems.

Working on these next-generation robotics products Axon is building is not only a career-defining accomplishment, but also a real opportunity to help advance the mission to Protect Life and reach our Moonshot goal: cut gun-related deaths between police and the public by 50% in 10 years.

What You’ll Do

Location: Brussels, Belgium
Reports to: Engineering Manager

• Implement flight modes on ROS 2 in C++ or Rust
• Tune and configure PX4 control loops, signal filters, and EKF state estimators and other modules
• Test flight performance of existing and new flight modes on real hardware
• Analyze and troubleshoot flight and controls issues reported by internal users
• Develop improvements to nominal and degraded flight behaviors
• Support the development and testing of new control system features
• Collaborate with the Firmware team on integration of sensors, flight modes, etc. with the broader system
• Collaborate with the Finland Imaging team
• Participate in flight testing sessions and iterate based on real-world results
• Write and maintain Python scripts for data analysis, log parsing, and test automation

While all candidates will be considered, those with hands-on drone or robotics experience will be prioritized over those with only a theoretical control systems background. Candidates that have implemented control systems in a compiled language (C, C++ or Rust) will be prioritize. Candidates with experience limited to MATLAB or Simulink only are not a fit for this role.

• Bachelor's or Master's Degree in Aerospace Engineering, Robotics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent
• Minimum 1-2 years of industry or hands-on project experience (internships, thesis work, and personal projects count)
• Comfortable reading and writing in any C, C++ or Rust
• Proficiency in Python or another scripting language
• Understanding of control systems fundamentals: PID controllers, signal filtering, and state estimation
• Understanding of core drone sensors (IMU, barometer, magnetometer, GPS) and how they feed into state estimation
• Comfortable using Linux and the terminal
• Experience with version control (Git) in a collaborative setting
• Basic understanding of software design patterns and code quality practices
• English proficiency required, French and or Dutch are a plus

The above job description is not intended as, nor should it be construed as, exhaustive of all duties, responsibilities, skills, efforts, or working conditions associated with this job. The job description may change or be supplemented at any time in accordance with business needs and conditions.

Some roles may also require legal eligibility to work in a firearms environment.

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Axon’s mission is to Protect Life and is committed to the well-being and safety of its employees as well as Axon’s impact on the environment. All Axon employees must be aware of and committed to the appropriate environmental, health, and safety regulations, policies, and procedures. Axon employees are empowered to report safety concerns as they arise and activities potentially impacting the environment.

We are an equal opportunity employer that promotes justice, advances equity, values diversity and fosters inclusion. We’re committed to hiring the best talent — regardless of race, creed, color, ancestry, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship status, marital status, disability, gender identity, genetic information, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances — and empowering all of our employees so they can do their best work. If you have a disability or special need that requires assistance or accommodation during the application or the recruiting process, please email recruitingops@axon.com.  Please note that this email address is for accommodation purposes only. Axon will not respond to inquiries for other purposes.

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