Aerospace Engineer: MDAO Design & Optimization

Decisive Point; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical/Dental/Vision

401(k)

Equity grants

Unlimited PTO

Parental Leave

Life insurance

Mental Health Resources

Job summary

Firestorm Labs is seeking a highly skilled Aerospace Engineer to lead the development of our in‑house Multidisciplinary Design, Analysis, and Optimization (MDAO) tool.

This role will sit at the heart of how Firestorm designs its next generation of mission‑adaptive unmanned aerial systems, coupling aerodynamics, propulsion, structures, mass properties, stability & control, performance, and cost models into a unified, automated design environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering or related field with 3+ years of relevant experience, or a Master’s with 1+ years.

Responsibilities

• Architect, develop, and maintain Firestorm’s MDAO framework (e.g., OpenMDAO) including data structures, solvers, and workflow orchestration.
• Develop and integrate discipline analysis modules: aerodynamics, propulsion, structures, stability & control, mission/performance analysis.
• Build parametric geometry pipelines (e.g., OpenVSP) for rapid exploration of unconventional UAS configurations.
• Implement and apply optimization methods including gradient-based and gradient-free optimization, DOE, and surrogate modeling.
• Validate tool outputs against wind tunnel, flight test, and high-fidelity data; quantify model uncertainty.
• Execute vehicle-level trade studies and sizing analyses for new product development and configuration changes.
• Work cross-functionally with airframe, propulsion, manufacturing, and autonomy teams to reflect real-world design constraints.
• Establish best practices for version control, testing, documentation, and CI of engineering software.

Skills

Aircraft conceptual design

Aerodynamics

Flight performance

Stability & control

Python programming

MDAO framework

Engineering software development

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering or related field

Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering

Tools

OpenMDAO

ModelCenter

Dakota

SUAVE

OpenVSP

AVL

XFOIL

NASTRAN

Job description

Firestorm Labs is seeking a highly skilled Aerospace Engineer to lead the development of our in‑house Multidisciplinary Design, Analysis, and Optimization (MDAO) tool.

This role will sit at the heart of how Firestorm designs its next generation of mission‑adaptive unmanned aerial systems, coupling aerodynamics, propulsion, structures, mass properties, stability & control, performance, and cost models into a unified, automated design environment.