The Role
About Precision AI
Precision AI is on a mission to transform agriculture with cutting-edge drone technology. Our aerial spraying systems help farmers target weeds with surgical precision, reducing chemical use and increasing yields. We’re a fast-moving, impact-driven team looking for people who want to help build the future of farming.
Role Overview
The ideal Controls Engineer at Precision AI is someone who can model, simulate, and tune dynamic systems—and then validate them in the real world. You’ll work in a multidisciplinary environment alongside embedded, mechanical, GNC (Guidance, Navigation, and Control), and software engineers, developing control strategies that directly impact vehicle stability, traction control, and spray performance from concept through field testing on tractors and ground sprayer rigs.
If you’re excited to dive deep into system dynamics without ego—and you enjoy turning theory into working, stable behavior on a real platform—this role will feel like home. You bring strong fundamentals in control theory, comfort with modeling and stability analysis, and the grit to iterate through tests until the system converges.
You’ll spend your days building models, designing PID control loops, running simulations, and analyzing stability (including frequency-domain methods like Bode plots) to improve platform behavior. Some days you’ll be tuning in simulation; other days you’ll be in the field, adjusting parameters and validating performance under agricultural shock and vibration.
At Precision AI, we move fast and build things that matter. If you want to own one of the highest-leverage technical risks on the program and help deliver reliable autonomy in real farm conditions, we’d love to meet you.
This role is onsite in Calgary due to the hands-on nature of testing, integration, and tractor-mounted sprayer verification and validation.
Key Responsibilities
Control System Design & Tuning
- Design and tune PID control loops for stability, responsiveness, and robustness across terrain and load conditions.
- Define control objectives and performance metrics tied to safety and spray accuracy.
- Develop control logic that accounts for real-world disturbances, saturation, delays, and sensor noise.
- Support integration of control algorithms into embedded implementations in partnership with firmware teams.
- Develop feedback control for liquid flow rate, turret position, and steering accuracy under real agricultural conditions.
Modeling, Vehicle Dynamics & Stability Analysis
- Build dynamic models of the platform and subsystems (actuators, sensors, vehicle and sprayer subsystem responses (drive system, steering actuators, fluid pumps) to inform control design.
- Perform stability analysis using frequency-domain techniques (e.g., Bode plots) and converge on stable operating regions.
- Develop and validate sensor/estimation assumptions (rate limits, latency, noise characteristics, update timing).
- Use MATLAB or another scripting language to prototype and evaluate control loops and tuning approaches.
- Document modeling assumptions, control architectures, and tuning rationale for repeatable engineering decisions.
Simulation, Testing & Iteration
- Build and run simulations (including dynamic simulation) to validate control strategies before field deployment.
- Design test plans for tuning and validation, including step responses, frequency sweeps, and disturbance testing.
- Support field testing and iterative tuning under agricultural environments (shock, vibration, wind, dust).
- Analyze test data to identify instabilities, coupling effects, and performance bottlenecks; implement improvements quickly.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Work closely with Embedded Engineers to ensure real-time constraints, sensor timing, and implementation details match control intent.
- Collaborate with Mechanical and Electrical Engineers to align actuator/sensor selections and physical constraints with stability needs.
Relevant Experience (Ideal Candidate Background)
- 3–6 years of controls engineering experience with demonstrated ownership of modeling and tuning work.
- Strong foundation in system dynamics, control theory, and stability analysis (time and frequency domain).
- Experience with MATLAB (or equivalent) for control prototyping, simulation, and analysis.
- Experience modeling dynamic systems and translating models into practical control implementations (i.e. System ID or similar hardware characterization techniques)
- Experience with hydraulics or fluid flow control in agricultural spraying systems.
- Background in agtech, automotive, aerospace, robotics, or other vibration/shock-heavy platforms.
What You Bring
- Excitement to dive deep: you’re curious, rigorous, and motivated to converge on stable real-world behavior.
- Low-ego collaboration style: you partner well across disciplines and focus on outcomes over credit.
- Ability to translate math and theory into practical engineering decisions and repeatable tuning processes.
- Strong communication skills for cross-functional collaboration.
- Willingness to travel 5–10% for field deployments and integration tests
Bonus
- Experience tuning controls on real vehicles (UAVs, automotive, aerospace, agricultural equipment).
- Experience with state estimation / sensor fusion concepts (even if not your primary ownership).
- Experience with real-time implementation constraints and embedded integration workflows.
- Comfort analyzing large test datasets and building repeatable analysis scripts.
- Experience working on safety-critical or high-reliability systems.
- Competition or Open Source Team Experience
Not Sure You Meet Every Requirement?
Research shows that some candidates, especially women, underrepresented groups, and career changers, are less likely to apply for a role unless they meet 100% of the listed qualifications. At Precision AI, we believe the right person can grow into the role, and we value potential as much as experience. If you’re excited about our mission and think you could contribute, we encourage you to apply, even if you don’t check every single box.
Equal Employment Opportunity
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other status protected by law.
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The Company
What We Do
At Precision AI we are on a mission to accelerate artificial intelligence based farming practices to create healthier, happier, and more profitable farms. By leveraging our advanced drones and custom-built AI technology, we can take crop production decisions from a whole field to an individual plant level. This type of decision-making transforms an industry that has been reliant on larger and broader technology for decades. The outcome of our solutions is integrated into the agricultural technology of today and helps craft the machines of tomorrow that will feed the world. Precision AI was founded in 2017 with headquarters in Regina, Saskatchewan. We are scaling rapidly with an elite global team solving the agriculture challenges of farms around the world.
