Principal Engineer & Technical Lead

Hypersonica GmbH; Ottawa; On-site; CAD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Hypersonica Canada is seeking a Principal Engineer & Technical Lead to become the senior technical owner in-country and help build the Canadian engineering organisation from the ground up.

This is not a role with a mature team or finished product; you will shape how Hypersonica engineers, integrates, tests and delivers capability in Canada, and you will own major technical decisions and trade-offs from early concept through integration, test and flight.

Skills

Systems engineering

Technical leadership

Aerospace engineering

Multidisciplinary coordination

Job description

Hypersonica is building sovereign hypersonic capability in Europe and Canada.

We move quickly, work directly with governments and end users, and take complex systems from clean-sheet design through integration, test and flight at a pace that is unusual in traditional aerospace and defence.

As we build Hypersonica Canada, we are looking for a Principal Engineer & Technical Lead to become the senior technical owner in-country and help build the Canadian engineering organisation from the ground up.

This is not a role where you inherit a mature team, established processes or a finished product.

You will help define how Hypersonica engineers, integrates, tests and delivers capability in Canada. You will work directly with our CTO, founders and wider engineering leadership, while having significant autonomy to shape the Canadian technical organisation, make major engineering decisions and build the team around you.

You will be close to the hardware, close to the customer and accountable for turning ambitious technical objectives into systems that can be assembled, tested and flown.

For the right person, this is an opportunity to do something much bigger than lead an existing engineering team.

It is an opportunity to help build one.

What you’ll do

• Own and lead technical delivery across Hypersonica’s Canadian projects and programmes, from early concept through integration, test and flight.
• Act as the senior technical authority in Canada, setting engineering direction and owning major technical decisions, trade-offs and risks.
• Lead the Canadian engineering team across systems, mechanical, avionics, GNC, AIT, test and other disciplines as the organisation grows.
• Work closely with the CTO and wider Hypersonica engineering organisation to ensure Canadian development aligns with overall vehicle architecture and technical strategy.
• Drive system architecture, requirements, interfaces and verification, ensuring the complete vehicle and ground system work as a coherent whole.
• Lead key technical reviews and ensure engineering maturity and evidence support progression towards integration, test and flight.
• Provide hands-on technical leadership on the most challenging multidisciplinary engineering problems and remove roadblocks to programme delivery.
• Work closely with the Head of Test Site Canada to take vehicles through assembly, integration, ground test, flight readiness and flight campaigns.
• Build, mentor and develop a highly capable Canadian engineering team, setting expectations for technical quality, ownership and pace.

Who you are

• A Principal Engineer, Chief Engineer or senior technical leader with significant experience delivering complex aerospace, launch-vehicle, missile or similarly demanding systems.
• Experienced leading multidisciplinary engineering teams and owning technical delivery at vehicle or system level, rather than within a single discipline.
• Technically broad across systems engineering, mechanical, avionics, software/GNC, AIT and test, with the depth to challenge specialists and make informed decisions.
• Experienced taking complex hardware from design and analysis through integration, verification and real-world testing.
• Able to operate as both a hands‑on Principal Engineer and people leader, setting direction while remaining deeply engaged in the engineering.
• Strong in systems thinking, technical reviews, requirements, interfaces, verification and engineering risk management.
• Calm and decisive under pressure, with the technical credibility to make difficult trade‑offs when performance, schedule and risk compete.
• Motivated by building both a world‑class Canadian engineering team and sovereign flight capability from the ground up.

What we offer

• The opportunity to help build Hypersonica Canada from the very beginning
• A senior technical role with real authority over engineering direction, architecture and delivery
• Direct access to the CTO, founders and senior engineering leadership
• Significant autonomy to shape the Canadian engineering team, technical organisation and ways of working
• The chance to work across the complete system rather than being confined to a single discipline
• Close involvement in real hardware, integration, ground testing and flight campaigns
• The opportunity to work directly with government customers and translate real mission needs into delivered capability
• A small, talent‑dense engineering environment with short decision paths and minimal bureaucracy
• Clear objectives, high accountability and the freedom to make decisions
• Competitive compensation and meaningful participation in the long-term success of the company

We are deliberately building a small team of exceptional people rather than a large organisation built around layers of process and management.

You will be expected to make decisions, challenge assumptions, get close to the engineering and take ownership when the answer is not obvious.

If you want to inherit a mature engineering organisation and optimise what already exists, this probably is not the role.

If you want to help build a new Canadian engineering capability, assemble the team around you and take complex systems from mission need to flight, come and build it with us.