Lead Engineer

AIRBOTS; Toronto; On-site; CAD 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation support

Annual learning budget

Four weeks vacation

Ownership of entire aircraft program

Job summary

AIRBOTS Defense Systems in Toronto designs and builds unmanned aircraft systems. We're hiring a Lead Engineer to be the technical owner of one aircraft program, accountable for the system including airframe, propulsion, avionics, payload integration, and embedded flight software.

You will set the architecture, manage trade-offs between endurance, weight, and cost, and lead a twelve-person engineering team through concept, design reviews, flight test, and into production.

Qualifications

• Degree in aerospace, mechanical, electrical, or systems engineering.
• 8+ years in aircraft, UAS, robotics, or similar complex electromechanical development with 3+ years leading a team.
• Ownership of a vehicle or complex system from concept to flight/field deployment, ideally to production.
• Strong systems engineering fundamentals: requirements management, interface control, budget tracking, verification planning, configuration management.
• Experience with embedded flight software (C/C++ on an RTOS) and RF links/command & data links.
• Familiarity with Transport Canada RPAS regulations under CARs Part IX.
• Proficiency with SolidWorks and PLM-based configuration management.

Responsibilities

• Own the whole-aircraft architecture and the program's technical roadmap.
• Maintain the requirements baseline and manage interfaces between subsystems.
• Own system-level budgets (mass, power, thermal, endurance) and trade-offs.
• Lead design reviews from concept through PDR/CDR and enforce configuration control.
• Oversee verification and validation strategies including hardware- and software-in-the-loop testing.
• Lead flight test planning, safety reviews, and data-driven anomaly investigations.
• Drive design for manufacture and transition to repeatable production.
• Select and qualify vendors for long-lead components and manage technical relationships.
• Mentor and grow the engineering team and assist hiring.
• Translate program status and risk into clear leadership communications.

Skills

Leadership

Systems engineering

Embedded software (C/C++ on RTOS)

Cross-disciplinary collaboration

Technical leadership

Education

Degree in aerospace, mechanical, electrical, or systems engineering

Tools

SolidWorks

FEA/CFD tools

Job description

AIRBOTS Defense Systems designs and builds unmanned aircraft systems in Toronto. We're hiring a Lead Engineer to be the technical owner of one of our aircraft programs.

This is a whole-vehicle role. You'll be accountable for the aircraft as a system: airframe and structures, propulsion and power, avionics, communications, payload integration, and the embedded flight software that ties it together. Embedded software is one workstream among several, not the job.

You'll set the architecture, own the trade-offs between endurance, payload, weight, and cost, and stay with the aircraft through build, bench test, and flight test until it does what it was specified to do. You'll lead a multidisciplinary team of twelve engineers and technicians.

The role works across both of our Toronto sites. Engineering and integration are based downtown; build, test, and production are in North York. Expect to move between the two regularly.

What you'll do

• Own the whole-aircraft architecture and the technical roadmap for the program
• Maintain the requirements baseline, flow requirements down to subsystem owners, and hold the interfaces between them
• Own the system-level budgets — mass, power, thermal, link margin, endurance — and keep them honest as the design evolves
• Arbitrate trade-offs when a subsystem optimum conflicts with the vehicle optimum
• Lead design reviews from concept through PDR and CDR, and enforce configuration control
• Own the verification and validation strategy: component test, hardware- and software-in-the-loop, ground runs, environmental and structural qualification, and structured flight test campaigns
• Lead flight test planning, safety review, and post-flight data analysis, and drive anomaly investigations to root cause
• Design for manufacture and drive the transition from prototype builds to repeatable production
• Select and qualify vendors for long-lead and critical components, and own those technical relationships
• Lead, mentor, and grow the engineering team, and help hire into it
• Translate program status, technical risk, and trade-offs into clear terms for leadership, customers, and regulators

What we're looking for

• Degree in aerospace, mechanical, electrical, or systems engineering, or an equivalent practical background
• Eight or more years in aircraft, UAS, robotics, or comparably complex electromechanical development, including at least three years leading a technical team
• Demonstrated ownership of a vehicle or complex system taken from concept through flight or field deployment, ideally into production
• Strong systems engineering fundamentals: requirements management, interface control, budget tracking, verification planning, configuration management
• Working fluency across disciplines, enough to review the work credibly even outside your specialty — aerodynamics and structures, electric propulsion and battery systems, avionics and harnessing, embedded flight software (C/C++ on an RTOS, PX4 or ArduPilot), and RF links and command and control
• Direct flight test experience, including test planning, safety review, and data-driven anomaly investigation
• Familiarity with Transport Canada RPAS regulations under CARs Part IX
• Proficiency with SolidWorks, FEA and CFD tools, and PLM-based configuration management
• Eligible to work in Canada and eligible to obtain a Government of Canada security clearance and Controlled Goods Program registration

Nice to have

• Fixed-wing VTOL or hybrid transition configurations
• Composite design and manufacturing, including layup and tooling
• Qualification to MIL-STD-810 and MIL-STD-461
• Exposure to DO-178C, DO-254, or ARP4754A, or work within an AS9100 quality system
• Experience achieving a type certificate or equivalent airworthiness approval
• Existing security clearance
• RPAS pilot certification or equivalent operational experience

What we offer

• Base salary of $80,000 to $120,000 CAD depending on experience
• Relocation support
• Annual learning and conference budget
• Four weeks of vacation plus company holidays
• Ownership of an entire aircraft program rather than a slice of one

AIRBOTS Defense Systems is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and are committed to building an inclusive team.