Internship, GNC Engineering (Fall)

This is an internship position in GNC (Guidance, Navigation, and Control) engineering at Pivotal, a company developing electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. The intern will support the development and testing of control and state estimation features, run simulations (MIL/SIL), analyze simulation and flight test data, and build or improve tools and test infrastructure using MATLAB/Simulink and Python. The role also involves documenting procedures and results, contributing to the advancement of Pivotal's next-generation aircraft, the Helix.

Responsibilities

• Support development and testing of control and state estimation features.
• Run simulations (MIL/SIL) to assess performance and behavior.
• Analyze simulation and/or flight test data.
• Build or improve tools, scripts, and test infrastructure (MATLAB/Simulink, Python).
• Help document procedures, results, and findings.

Requirements

• Pursuing a Bachelors or Masters degree program in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical, Robotics, or similar.
• Interest in eVTOL industry and personal flight
• Experience with MATLAB/Simulink and/or Python.
• Exposure to flight dynamics, controls, or estimation through coursework/projects.
• Ability to learn quickly and multi-task in a dynamic and fast-paced work environment
• Strong verbal and written communication, organization, and leadership skills
• Must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident
• Able to work onsite in Palo Alto, CA.

Nice to have

• Experience with UAVs/RC aircraft, robotics, or autonomy projects.
• Familiarity with sensor fusion, Kalman filtering, or control design.
• Experience with Git or similar tools.