Senior Airframe Stress Engineer

Dominion Dynamics; Ottawa; On-site; CAD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive base salary

Equity granted based on impact

Comprehensive health benefits

Job summary

Dominion Dynamics is seeking a Senior Airframe Stress Engineer in Ottawa to lead structural sizing from concept to certification. You will drive interfaces, trade studies, and systems integration across metallic and composite structures, shaping standards and tooling from day one.

You will collaborate with aerodynamics, propulsion, avionics, and systems engineering to ensure manufacturability, feasibility, and regulatory alignment as the design matures.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in aerospace structural stress at an OEM or equivalent.
• Experience with Part 23/25/27 certification programs.

Responsibilities

• Lead from conceptual to final sizing major structures and interfaces.
• Perform sizing across configurations and trade studies for primary and secondary structures.
• Advance Dominion Dynamics' stress tools and standards library.

Skills

Aerospace structures experience

ANSYS

NASTRAN

Altair

CATIA V5

3DEXPERIENCE

NX

Python

Tools

CATIA V5

3DEXPERIENCE

NX

Python scripting

ANSYS

NASTRAN

ALTair

Job description

Senior Airframe Stress Engineer

Location: [Ottawa, Montreal or Toronto], On-Site

Reports to: Director of Structures

Type: Full-Time

The Role

You carry structural and systems analyses from concept through defence-program certification — layouts, trade studies, interfaces, and using your experience to quickly call the right material and architecture — on a platform where the design freeze hasn't happened yet and your calls now determine what's expensive to fix later.

At an established OEM, this role plugs into existing standards and a large structures organization; at Dominion Dynamics, you're helping set those standards while doing the design work itself, across metallic and composite constructions, with certification as a constraint from day one rather than a phase-gate someone else worries about.

You work daily with the other Structures functions and other groups like Aerodynamics, Propulsion, Avionics, and Systems Engineering. Your mission is to keep structure and interfaces converging with the rest of the vehicle, and you're close enough to the build to see a design decision go from CAD to structure analysis and hardware fast — not wait two review cycles to find out it didn't fit.

What You'll Do

• Lead from conceptual to final sizing your assigned major structure, structural architectures, interfaces, and systems integration.

• Perform sizing across configurations and trade studies for primary and secondary structures.

• Be at the forefront of building Dominion Dynamics' stress tools and methodologies library and standards.

• Run and contribute to design reviews, and improve the design processes and methodologies as the team builds them.

• Work with multidisciplinary teams to keep designs feasible, manufacturable, and compliant with regulatory requirements.

• Set calculation standards and workflows for the structures and systems teams as the function scales.

• Represent structure stress engineering in program reviews, customer interactions, and supplier engagements.

What You Bring

• 10+ years in aerospace structural stress at an OEM or equivalent, with experience in Part 23/25/27 certification programs.

• Strong experience and day-to-day use of simulation tools (e.g., ANSYS, NASTRAN, Altair) and proficiency in CAD (CATIA V5, 3DEXPERIENCE, or NX).

• Strong background in metallic and composite materials and design-for-manufacturing trade-offs.

• Coding skills for engineering tools (Python preferably).

• Comfortable building process and standards, not just working inside them — this isn't a mature design organization yet.

Nice to Have

• Experience in an aerospace startup or advanced air mobility program.

• Published technical work or patents in structural or aerospace design.

• Knowledge of FAA/TCCA/EASA/Defense regulations beyond your home certification basis.

• Test support from components to full-scale structures.

• Flight test or hardware integration experience alongside design work.

• Manufacturing support, in-service, or flight support experience.

No defence background required.

We've hired people who didn't tick every box.

Why Join Us

Building something meaningful starts with the right people.

At Dominion Dynamics, you’ll:

• Shape Canada’s future by building real defence capability for the CAF and our allies.

• Make decisions that ship in a high-trust environment with short feedback loops and rapid iteration.

• Move fast, field faster, and work directly with the operator — our systems are in the field with the CAF now.

• Have an impact from day one with equity, responsibility, and direct access to leadership.

If you’re curious, hands-on, and driven by the opportunity to make a difference, this is where you belong!

Compensation & Benefits

• Competitive base salary and company equity*

• Comprehensive health benefits

• Additional equity granted based on impact*

*Equity awarded to full time employees only.