Chief Engineer – Airframe
Based in San Jose, California this position will be responsible for building an all-electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.
Primary Responsibilities:
- Ensure airframe meets weight, cost, manufacturing, safety, and certification requirements
- Drive multi-disciplinary trade studies to arrive at actionable design solutions
- Establish airframe design and analysis best practices
- Lead airframe design reviews throughout the development process
- Review structural analysis results
- Review structural test plans for development, safety of flight, and certification tests
- Act as the primary technical point of contact with key suppliers
What you need:
- BS, MS, or PhD in Aerospace Engineering or a related field
- 10+ years of experience with a BS, or 8+ years of experience with a MS, or 5+ years of experience with a PhD designing aircraft and/or rotorcraft
- Background in aircraft and/or rotorcraft structural design, including damage tolerance
- Demonstrated experience designing production parts on certified aircraft
- Experience with the integration of complex systems into an airframe (e.g. electromechanical actuators, hydraulics, fly-by-wire)
- Comfortable with structural analysis from hand calcs through finite element analysis
- Experience with loads and aeroelastic analysis
- Familiar with 14 CFR Part 23 or 27 and their associated means of compliance
- Strong technical, written, and verbal communication skills
- Experience establishing or improving engineering processes
- Experience in a fast-paced design environment
Additional Qualifications:
- Understanding of fixed-wing and rotorcraft aerodynamics
- Structural design to meet electromagnetic effects requirements (HIRF, Lightning)
- Familiarity with battery energy storage systems and electric propulsion systems
- eVTOL design experience up through flight testing of full-scale prototypes
- Experience with aircraft operating and production cost modeling
- Experience with rotor dynamics simulation
Salary Range: $268k - $336k/year
