Senior Software Engineer - State Estimation

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<div><strong>Company</strong></div><div> </div><div>Founded in 2020, <a href="https://flyribbit.com/" target="\_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ribbit</a> 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. You can check out our videos <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZCDRoUsIR3ujcmgsnoCONw" target="\_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a>.</div><div> </div><div>We believe that technology should be developed <em>for </em>and <em>with </em>the customer. In 2023, we signed our first federal contract with the Government of Canada, during which we performed Canada’s first autonomous gate-to-gate flight between two airports. Since then, we have won several additional contracts, including contracts with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the Department of National Defence (DND) spanning platform, mission, and collaborative autonomy. We pride ourselves on knowing the customer better than themselves, serving them better than anyone else, and ensuring they succeed in a world with everyone else.</div><div> </div><div>This year alone, we performed the world's first demonstration of collaborative teaming between an autonomous airplane and an autonomous helicopter. We also deployed Canada's first optionally piloted aircraft with a military callsign. We are now building novel autonomous aircraft for DND and Canada's allies, aligning our immediate defence clients with a backlog of interest across northern wholesalers, public safety agencies, freight forwarders, and humanitarian organizations. Autonomy is reshaping the way we move, understand, and protect the world.</div><div> </div><div>Our team has years of experience with piloting, commercial drone operations, and autonomous mobile robotics—we're concentrating the world's best software, robotics, and aeronautical expertise to pursue our mission of making air transportation accessible to everyone. If you’re up for the challenge, we want to hear from you.</div><div> </div><div><strong>Position Overview</strong></div><div> </div><div><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;">As a Senior State Estimation Engineer, you will collaborate with peers to:</span></div><div><br></div><ul><li><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;">Lead development of the state estimation stack. You will shape its architecture and roadmap, lead design reviews, and hold the bar on code quality</span></li><li><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;">Research, design and develop the systems required for handling degraded or denied GNSS signals, ensuring a reliable aircraft state estimate when satellite navigation is jammed, spoofed, or unavailable</span></li><li><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;">Own the sensor suite deployed on our aircraft: from selection, calibration, time synchronisation, and health monitoring, to research into what new sensors the aircraft should carry next</span></li><li><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;">Stay hands-on: write production C++, review the handwritten code, and prototype/compare various estimation and sensing approaches</span></li><li><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;">Deploy tools for analyzing and providing quality metrics of state estimates for downstream users, establishing what the estimator can provide and the extent to which its outputs can be trusted</span></li><li><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;">Represent the estimation team in design reviews with the navigation, controls, hardware, and flight-test teams</span></li><li><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;">Onboard and mentor junior engineers that join the team</span></li></ul><div> </div><div>Your key objectives will include:</div><div><br></div><ul><li><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;">Designing and implementing estimators that output the aircraft's state (e.g. EKF, error-state KF, UKF, factor-graph methods), including INS mechanisation,GNSS/INS integration</span></li><li><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;">Developing vision-based navigation that limits drift on long flights without GNSS, such as visual-inertial odometry, image-to-map matching, and landmark and runway detection</span></li><li><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;">Fusing a wide range of sensors: IMUs, multi-antenna GNSS, magnetometers, air data, barometric, radar and laser altimeters, cameras, and LiDAR</span></li><li><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;">Estimating wind, air data, and height above terrain accurately enough to support automatic takeoff, approach, flare, and landing</span></li><li><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;">Building fault detection and integrity monitoring into the estimator (e.g. innovation gating, cross-checks, jamming and spoofing detection, protection levels)</span></li><li><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;">Writing production C++ that runs in real time on the aircraft, tested against recorded flight logs, simulation, HIL, and flight</span></li></ul><div> </div><div>Other Details:</div><div><br></div><ul><li>No. of Positions: 1</li><li>Duration: Permanent Full-Time, starting December 2026</li><li>Compensation: 168000 to 183000 (includes base salary + equity + bonus)</li><li>This is a remote role that involves some on-site presence to support field tests—<strong>you must be in the Greater Toronto Area/Hami…