Senior Flight Controls Engineer in Burlington

Thank you for exploring opportunities at Ribbit! We look forward to speaking with you. Note: the Careers page is under maintenance; actual details and interview process may differ slightly. Note: We read everything that comes our way. Let your outstanding résumé (cover letter and design portfolio encouraged but optional) do the talking. For important questions or comments, contact us at careers@flyribbit.com.

Company Founded in 2020, Ribbit builds and operates autonomous airplanes. We develop technology that enables uncrewed gate-to-gate operations, having completed hundreds of autonomous flight hours on different aircraft, flown 10K+ hours in simulation, and secured flight authorities for remotely and optionally piloted flight. From defending sovereignty to delivering food and medical supplies, we are a trusted partner that businesses and governments rely on to test, operate, and deploy affordable autonomous aircraft.

Position Overview As a Senior Flight Controls Engineer, you will collaborate with peers to:

• Lead development of flight control for autonomous fixed-wing aircraft.
• Own the aircraft modelling behind the control system, including trim and operating-point models, actuator and propulsion models, and the simulations used to design and verify control laws.
• Stay hands-on: design and tune control laws yourself, write production C++, and review the hardest changes.
• Represent control in design reviews with the navigation, state estimation, hardware, and flight-test teams, and mentor the engineers who join the team.
• Work with flight-test engineers and safety pilots to plan and fly test campaigns, tune control laws during and after flights, and turn pilot feedback into improvements.

Your key objectives will include:

• Building and maintaining high-fidelity models of real aircraft from first principles.
• Trimming and linearising the aircraft across its envelope, and using the results to design, analyze, and schedule control laws.
• Designing and tuning control laws for automatic takeoff and landing.
• Implementing envelope protection and failure handling.
• Taking control laws from design and analysis to production C++ that meets safety-critical standards.

Other Details:

• No. of Positions: 1
• Duration: Permanent Full-Time, starting December 2026
• Base Compensation: $153,920 to $168,480
• This is a hybrid role involving remote work and on-site presence to support field tests—you must be in the Greater Toronto Area or willing to relocate.
• Competitive and comprehensive compensation (e.g. 3 weeks of vacation upon joining, comprehensive health and wellness plans).
• You must be eligible to hold a Government of Canada security clearance at the Reliability or Secret level, and pass security assessment for the Controlled Goods Program.

Qualifications:

• A university degree in aerospace, mechanical, or electrical engineering, or a related field.
• Hands-on experience designing control laws that have flown on real aircraft.
• MATLAB/Simulink and/or Python for modelling, analysis, and system identification, and C++ for implementing control laws on real-time systems.
• A strong foundation in flight dynamics.
• Experience identifying aircraft models from flight or test data.
• Experience designing and analyzing aircraft control.
• Experience with the takeoff and landing phases.
• Experience with flight simulators.

Preferred and bonus qualifications include experience with:

• Developing and/or flight-testing autonomous aircraft or drones in a professional setting.
• A pilot licence, or experience as a flight-test engineer.
• Wind, gust, and turbulence models.
• Code generation from models and safety-critical coding standards.

You also possess the soft skills to work in a high-stakes, tight-knit company, such as:

• Openness to give and receive feedback.
• Adaptability when priorities move.
• Self-awareness about your own strengths and gaps.
• Taking initiative with minimal guidance.

Compensation: $153,920.00 - $168,480.00 per year.