Senior Aerospace Engineer

Responsibilities

• Develop and refine endurance, range, loiter, and cruise performance calculations using flight dynamics, aircraft configuration, operating environment, and mission profiles.
• Own aircraft weight, balance, and center-of-gravity models, including tracking, allocation budgets, and reporting through design and configuration changes.
• Create, validate, and maintain aerodynamic and propulsion models for Guidance and Controls, flight computer, and autonomy systems.
• Collaborate with mechanical and propulsion design engineers on the performance effects of airframe, wing, and control-surface changes.
• Evaluate payloads and customer-specific configurations for endurance and aircraft performance.
• Plan and lead flight-test campaigns to validate operational envelopes, correlate models with flight data, and characterize aircraft performance.
• Participate in root-cause analysis of performance anomalies and test findings, driving corrective actions to completion.
• Analyze flight and test data to establish and refine operational-envelope requirements and performance specifications.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or an equivalent technical field.
• 3+ years of experience in the aerospace or defense industry.
• Understanding of fixed-wing flight dynamics, aircraft performance, and aerodynamic and propulsion fundamentals.
• Proficiency analyzing large datasets to define operational-envelope requirements and validate models, using Python, MATLAB, or equivalent tools.
• Experience developing or maintaining aircraft weight and center-of-gravity models.
• Ability to collaborate cross-functionally and drive technical changes.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including presenting technical findings to varied audiences.

Nice-to-haves

• Full lifecycle experience taking a product from concept through development, flight test, and field sustainment.
• Experience with fixed-wing unmanned aerial systems, unmanned aerial vehicles, or autonomous aircraft.
• Experience building or tuning aerodynamic and engine models for guidance, navigation, and control systems.
• Hands-on flight-test experience, including test planning, instrumentation, and data reduction.
• Familiarity with fixed-wing modeling and simulation tools such as MATLAB/Simulink, XFLR5, and AVL.
• Understanding of airworthiness, safety, or defense acquisition standards.