Structural Engineer UAV H/F

Alta Ares; Blagnac; Sur place; EUR 60 000 - 90 000; Plein temps

Résumé du poste

Alta Ares, an air defense company, seeks a Structural Design & Analysis engineer to shape the airframe of our interceptor platforms. You will design primary and secondary composite structures, perform FEA and hand calculations, and define load paths and failure modes.

You will collaborate with Aerodynamics, Propulsion and Manufacturing teams to optimize weight, balance mass and CG, ensure manufacturability, support testing, and help transition designs from prototype to production.

Qualifications

• 3+ years aerospace or aircraft structural engineering experience, UAV/drone platforms preferred.
• Proficiency in sizing airframe structures for loads with interpretation of load cases.
• Experience with FEA for static strength, stiffness, buckling and vibration.
• Strong CAD capability and integration of components.
• Familiarity with UAV integration challenges and composite manufacturing methods.

Responsabilités

• Design and analyze primary and secondary composite structures of interceptor airframes.
• Perform structural and stress analysis combining hand calculations and FEA to justify margins under loads.
• Define load paths, free-body diagrams, and failure modes for major structural elements.
• Own laminate design, layup schedules, and bonding/joining strategies for carbon fiber structures.
• Aggressively optimize structural weight without compromising strength.
• Collaborate with Aerodynamics and Propulsion teams to balance mass and CG constraints.
• Support structural, vibration, shock, and environmental qualification testing.
• Work with manufacturing partners to ensure designs are manufacturable and scalable.

Connaissances

FEA

CAD (CATIA/SolidWorks)

Composite design

Lightweight structures

Vibration analysis

Hand calculations

Technical communication

Cross-functional collaboration

UAV/drone experience

Outils

CATIA

SolidWorks

Autodesk

3D printing

Description du poste

About Alta Ares

Alta Ares is an air defense Neoprime. We build AI-guided interceptors to counter drones and cruise missiles, along with the software platform that powers them.

Our customers are NATO-aligned militaries and defense institutions, and our systems are regularly deployed during live exercises and operational demonstrations across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

Founded in 2024, we have grown to 90 people, raised over $60M, and increased revenue 40× this year. We are now entering a new phase of international expansion, industrial scaling, fundraising, and product development.

ROLE & Missions:

STRUCTURAL DESIGN & ANALYSIS

• Design and analyze the primary and secondary composite structures of our interceptor airframes (fuselage, wings/control surfaces, internal load-bearing components)
• Perform structural and stress analysis combining hand calculations and finite element analysis (FEA) to justify margins under static, dynamic, and high-acceleration loads
• Define and document load paths, free-body diagrams, and failure modes for all major structural elements
• Own composite laminate design, layup schedules, and bonding/joining strategies for carbon fiber structures

WEIGHT & PERFORMANCE OPTIMIZATION

• Aggressively optimize structural weight without compromising strength, given the platform's speed and maneuverability requirements
• Work with Aerodynamics and Propulsion teams to balance structural mass, CG, and vibration constraints against flight performance targets
• Evaluate design trade-offs between composite and metallic/CNC solutions where each makes sense

TESTING & VALIDATION

• Support structural, vibration, shock, and environmental qualification testing of airframe components and subassemblies
• Analyze test and flight data to identify failure modes, including:
  • Fatigue and fracture
  • CG shifts
  • Vibration-induced damage
• Support fast structural repairs and troubleshooting during flight test campaigns

MANUFACTURABILITY & PRODUCTION

• Work directly with manufacturing partners and internal fabrication teams to ensure designs are manufacturable, repeatable, and cost-effective at scale
• Get hands-on with composite fabrication and bonding to understand how parts are actually built, not just how they're modeled
• Support the transition of airframe structures from prototype to serial production

CROSS-FUNCTIONAL COLLABORATION

• Work closely with Aerodynamics, Propulsion, and Manufacturing engineers to resolve cross-disciplinary design conflicts
• Communicate structural decisions and analysis clearly to non-structural stakeholders
• Contribute to design reviews and structural documentation standards as the team scales

CANDIDATE PROFILE

• 3+ years' experience in aerospace or aircraft structural engineering, ideally including UAV/drone platforms
• Demonstrated experience analysing and sizing airframe structures for aerodynamic, manoeuvre, propulsion, and inertial loads, with the ability to interpret, validate, and apply aircraft aerodynamic load cases
• Proficiency in finite element analysis (FEA) for static strength, stiffness, buckling and vibration modelling
• Strong CAD capability (e.g. CATIA, SolidWorks, Autodesk or comparable tools), with the ability to support detailed design and internal component integration
• Familiarity with UAV/drone specific integration challenges, including payloads, batteries, avionics, propulsion mounting, and practical field repairability, would be a strong advantage
• Experience designing lightweight carbon-fibre composite structures, including laminate design and sandwich panels and knowledge of composite manufacturing methods and processes
• Experience designing parts for polymer 3D printed components, with a practical understanding of print orientation and load paths
• Ability to perform hand calculations and correlate analytical results with FEA and structural test data
• Strong communication and multidisciplinary collaboration skills across aerodynamics, systems and manufacturing teams
• Experience with aeroelasticity analysis, including flutter, divergence, structural deflection, and vibration assessment, would be a strong advantage