Staff Engineer, Propulsion

What you'll do

• Design propulsion system components and subsystems for V-BAT, including fuel and oil delivery hardware, two-stroke engine components and supporting hardware, engine thermal-control components, propeller and ducted-fan-adjacent mechanical hardware, mounts, brackets, housings, retention features, tubing supports, and related propulsion hardware.
• Perform mechanical analysis to guide and validate designs, including static strength and stiffness analysis, hand calculations and fundamental sizing, finite element analysis where appropriate, fatigue and durability assessment, vibration and modal analysis, bolted-joint/bearing/shaft/bracket/mount analysis, thermal growth/clearance/tolerance-stack analysis, and basic thermal/structural coupling.
• Own mechanical design trades between mass, stiffness, strength, cost, manufacturability, serviceability, and reliability.
• Create and maintain high-quality CAD models and drawing packages for propulsion components and assemblies.
• Route and retain wire harnesses, fuel lines, oil lines, cooling lines, and other propulsion-adjacent tubing or fluid systems.
• Own engineering change orders (ECOs) for components from problem definition through release.
• Support configuration management for the propulsion system, including accurate documentation of released hardware, prototype configurations, and production cut-ins.
• Coordinate design releases with manufacturing, quality, supply chain, flight test, program management, and other engineering teams.
• Own and execute verification and validation test campaigns for hardware.
• Analyze test data from ground and flight testing to determine whether components meet structural, thermal, vibration, durability, and reliability requirements.
• Work closely with electrical, mechanical, aero-performance, software, manufacturing, and flight-test engineers to ensure designs integrate cleanly into the full aircraft.
• Investigate failures, nonconformances, production escapes, and field issues, then drive corrective actions through design updates, process changes, or test improvements.

Required qualifications

• B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering or Aerospace Engineering.
• 5+ years of professional mechanical design experience.
• Strong proficiency with 3D CAD modeling and detailed mechanical design.
• Experience developing production-ready engineering drawings and documentation.
• Understanding of GD&T (Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing) and manufacturing processes.
• Experience owning components through the full product lifecycle from concept through production.
• Experience supporting prototype builds, testing, and design iteration.
• Strong cross-functional communication and project coordination skills.
• Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced hardware development environment.

Preferred qualifications

• Experience in aerospace, aviation, defense, motorsports, or other high-performance mechanical systems.
• Proficiency with Siemens NX.
• Experience designing engine, propulsion, fuel, lubrication, thermal management, or rotating machinery systems.
• Experience with wire harness routing, tubing design, and aircraft integration.
• Familiarity with configuration management and engineering change processes.
• Experience supporting flight test programs or airborne hardware development.
• Knowledge of composites, sheet metal, machined components, castings, and additive manufacturing.
• Experience with environmental, durability, vibration, and qualification testing.
• Familiarity with FAA, military, or aerospace development practices.