Systems and Applications Engineer

About Agilica Agilica is a deep-tech spin-off of the Royal Military Academy (Belgium). We develop positioning and navigation solutions for unmanned aerial, ground and maritime systems that must operate where GNSS (including GPS) is unavailable, unreliable or denied. Our ultra-wideband (UWB) positioning systems are used for safe autonomous drone operations on vessels, offshore platforms, industrial sites and complex indoor spaces. We are now extending our technology into sensor-fusion navigation and cooperative autonomy for multi-drone (swarm) operations, while growing our customer base among drone manufacturers, integrators and operators. The roleAs Systems and Applications Engineer, you will work on both sides of our technology: developing it in the lab and making it work for customers in the field. You will contribute to the next generation of our navigation stack, and you will be the technical partner our customers and integration partners rely on during evaluations, trials and deployments. You will work directly with the founding team. Your work will shape both our product and the way customers experience it. What you will doYour time will move between two areas as projects and customer needs require. Research and development
• Develop and improve Agilica's positioning system across firmware, software and algorithms.
• Design and prototype positioning and navigation solutions combining UWB ranging and angle-of-arrival (AoA) with infrared (IR) sensing, inertial sensors, height sensors and visual odometry.
• Contribute to GPS-denied autonomous navigation and swarm coordination for drones and other unmanned systems, including relative positioning, precision loitering and landing.
• Develop embedded software in C/C++ for microcontrollers and companion computers, drivers, communication protocols and real-time logic.
• Plan and run flight tests and validation campaigns, analyse the data and report the results. Customer applications and integration
• Run technical discovery with prospective customers and recommend suitable system configurations.
• Prepare and run live demonstrations and field trials, including on vessels, test ranges and industrial sites.
• Support the engineering teams of drone manufacturers and integrators in integrating our system through NMEA, MAVLink and custom interfaces, with PX4, ArduPilot and other autopilots.
• Diagnose and resolve deployment issues in the field, or feed them back to development with clear reproduction data.
• Provide technical input for proposals, requests for information and tenders.
• Turn field and customer feedback into structured requirements for the product roadmap. DocumentationWrite integration guides, application notes, test reports and technical documentation for customers, partners and internal use.

Your profile
Required
• Master's degree in electrical or electronic engineering, mechatronics, robotics, aerospace engineering, computer science or a closely related field.
• Solid programming skills in C/C++ and Python.
• Sound understanding of state estimation and sensor fusion methods and algorithms, and of positioning or navigation principles.
• Hands-on experience with drones or other unmanned and robotic systems, ideally including PX4 or ArduPilot.
• Experience integrating hardware and software and debugging systems in real-world conditions.
• Clear and confident technical communication in English, written and spoken, including with external engineers and customers.
• Willingness to travel internationally for field trials and customer work. Strong advantages
• UWB-based positioning, RF or GNSS/PNT systems; infrared (IR) sensing or IR-based tracking; wireless communication fundamentals; signal processing.
• Visual positioning, multi-agent and swarm navigation.
• AI-based sensor fusion and machine learning for navigation and state estimation.
• Microcontrollers, embedded Linux, and interfaces such as I2C, SPI, UART, CAN, Ethernet and Wi-Fi.
• Experience working with customers, partners or end users (for example, an industrial thesis, an internship or a competition team).
• Hardware bring-up and test equipment (oscilloscope, spectrum analyser); schematic and PCB design.
• Drone pilot certification and flight-test experience.
• Version control with Git and a habit of clean, well-documented code.
• Dutch and/or French. Who you are
• Hands-on and curious, and you enjoy moving between the lab, the code and the field.
• A calm, methodical problem solver, including under time pressure and in front of customers.
• Ambitious about technology and eager to push the boundaries of what is possible, while staying honest about what works today.
• Independent and accountable, and comfortable with changing priorities in a start-up environment.
• A proactive communicator and a reliable team player. You do not need to meet every point on day one. If you are motivated both by building new technology and by seeing it work for real users, we would like to hear from you.

What we offer
• A full-time employment contract of indefinite duration (40 hours per week) with flexible

working hours
.
• A foundational role in a growing deep-tech company, with direct influence on its technology and products.
• Work on cutting-edge autonomy and navigation technology, tested on real drones in real environments.
• Exposure to customers, partners and innovation programmes.
• A competitive salary with extra-legal benefits, including meal vouchers and a home-to-work travel allowance. Practical information
• Workplace: Agilica new operational site in Flanders (in the Brussels periphery, location to be confirmed), with regular presence at our base at the Royal Military Academy in Brussels, and field work at customer sites, in Europe and internationally.
• Teleworking: the role is primarily on site; teleworking is the exception.
• Security check: access to the Royal Military Academy requires a background check carried out by Belgian Defence. Candidates must consent to this check.
• Candidate must be legally authorized to work in Belgium

How to apply
Please email your CV and a motivation letter to jobs@agilica.be, with the subject line "Systems and Applications Engineer". Application deadline: 14 December 2026 Expected start date: 1 March 2027 We will pre-select candidates based on the documents received. Selected candidates will be invited to an interview at the Royal Military Academy. Agilica is an equal-opportunity employer and assesses every candidate on skills, experience and motivation.