Aerospace MDAO Architect - Lead Multidisciplinary Design

Decisive Point; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 145,000 - 215,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision plans

401(k) Retirement Savings Plan

Equity grants

Unlimited PTO

Holiday calendar

Parental Leave

Lifestyle Spending Account

FSA/HSA

Life/AD&D insurance

Mental Health Resources

Job summary

Firestorm Labs in San Diego, CA, is seeking a Principal Aerospace Engineer to lead the development of our in-house Multidisciplinary Design, Analysis, and Optimization tool for next-generation unmanned aerial systems.

You will architect the framework, integrate discipline models, and run trade studies that shape vehicle design, requiring deep knowledge of aircraft conceptual design and software engineering.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering or related field with 8+ years of relevant experience, or a Master’s degree with 6+ years.
• Strong foundation in aircraft conceptual/preliminary design, aerodynamics, flight performance, and stability & control.
• Proficiency in Python and experience developing engineering analysis software beyond one-off scripts.

Responsibilities

• Architect, develop, and maintain Firestorm’s MDAO framework.
• Develop and integrate discipline analysis modules — aerodynamics, propulsion, structures, stability & control, and mission/performance analysis.
• Build parametric geometry pipelines (OpenVSP or CAD-integrated) for rapid exploration of UAS configurations.
• Implement and apply optimization methods including gradient-based and gradient-free optimization, design of experiments, and surrogate modeling.
• Validate tool outputs against wind tunnel, flight test, and higher-fidelity analysis data, and quantify model uncertainty.
• Execute vehicle-level trade studies and sizing analyses to support new product development and customer-driven configuration changes.
• Work cross-functionally with airframe, propulsion, manufacturing, and autonomy teams to reflect real-world design constraints, including additive manufacturing considerations.
• Establish best practices for version control, testing, documentation, and continuous integration of engineering software.

Skills

Python programming

MDAO framework

OpenMDAO

Aircraft design concepts

Optimization methods

Education

Bachelors in Aerospace Engineering

Masters in Aerospace Engineering

Tools

OpenMDAO

ModelCenter

Dakota

SUAVE

OpenVSP

AVL

XFOIL

SU2

NASTRAN

Fluent

STAR-CCM+

Job description

Firestorm Labs in San Diego, CA, is seeking a Principal Aerospace Engineer to lead the development of our in-house Multidisciplinary Design, Analysis, and Optimization tool for next-generation unmanned aerial systems.

You will architect the framework, integrate discipline models, and run trade studies that shape vehicle design, requiring deep knowledge of aircraft conceptual design and software engineering.