Mission Performance Analyst

As a Mission Performance Analyst at Reliable Robotics, you will be a part of the System Development team, which architects the future of autonomous flight. This role bridges first-principles physics and the deterministic constraints required to keep self-flying aircraft safe under any conditions. You will define the boundaries of what our aircraft can achieve, ensuring our automated systems operate with precision in normal, extreme, and degraded conditions.

As part of an experienced multi-disciplinary team, you will translate complex aerodynamics and fluid dynamics into quantified performance baselines that drive automation requirements and become the safety standards that define our success. You will collaborate with members from other groups within Reliable Robotics to develop the new and novel systems necessary for uncrewed aircraft operations.

Responsibilities

• In your role as a Mission Performance Analyst you will contribute to the development of prototypes and certifiable, safety-critical flight systems in a dynamic, high-growth environment

• Establish safe, quantified operational thresholds by leveraging existing simulations (e.g., from GNC); where gaps exist, build basic first-principles models independently or articulate the analytical input needed from other teams

• Partner with Autopilot and GNC teams to analyze flight control limits and ensure robust, resilient performance during mode transitions and edge-case scenarios

• Determine the environmental thresholds (crosswinds, icing, link latencies) that dictate how our systems navigate behavioral state transitions

• Define representative, high-stakes mission scenarios that demonstrate physical system resilience and safe automated responses under compounding failure conditions

• Provide the quantitative physical foundations that enable safety engineering teams to conduct rigorous hazard assessments

• Ingest and analyze real-world flight databases and telemetry logs using Python, MATLAB, or SQL to extract insights into operating behaviors and establish flight performance baselines

• Quantify procedural thresholds for Flight Manual Supplements, accounting for atmosphere, terrain, and payload variability

Basic Success Criteria

• Master’s degree in Science or Engineering (or a Bachelor’s degree with at least 10 years of experience) in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Applied Mathematics, or a related technical discipline

• Broad experience from 5+ years in aircraft performance analysis, flight sciences, flight dynamics, or aerospace systems engineering

• Proficiency in processing and analyzing large, noisy flight datasets or raw telemetry using programming tools such as Python, MATLAB, or SQL

Preferred Criteria

• Creative problem solver who can apply first-principles physical and aerodynamic analyses to bridge gaps in incomplete flight datasets and establish design safety margins in high-uncertainty environments

• First-hand experience operating Part 23 or Part 25 aircraft, with an FAA-certificated ASEL or AMEL private, commercial, or Airline Transport Pilot certificate; alternatively, experience remotely piloting large military uncrewed aircraft

• Familiarity with aerospace development standards (e.g., ARP4754B, ARP4761) and airworthiness regulations (14 CFR Parts 23 and 25, especially performance criteria), and experience supporting systems safety engineering activities

• Experience supporting auto-flight, autopilot, GNC, or envelope protection functions, including analyzing automated software/hardware interfaces and physical system constraints

This role is critical to us at Reliable Robotics, because it converts complex, first-principles physical and environmental aircraft limits into the precise, quantitative requirements that keep our self-flying aircraft safe under any conditions.

This role can be remote, or located at our headquarters in Mountain View, California, Seattle, WA or San Diego, CA.

Must be willing to travel up to 10% of the time.