Aircraft Loft Engineer

Haast Autonomous; Oregon (WI); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Haast Autonomous in the United States is seeking a Senior CAD Loft Engineer to own the master CAD model and outer mold line for our aircraft, focusing on lofting, advanced surfacing, and production‑quality design definition.

You will translate airfoil data and layouts into precise geometry, maintain the master model across components, and collaborate with aerodynamics, structures, and manufacturing teams to move from prototype toward production.

Qualifications

• Two+ years in aircraft lofting or aero CAD.
• Experience developing outer mold line or master geometry for a complete aircraft.
• Proficient in CATIA, Siemens NX, Creo, or SolidWorks.
• Advanced complex surfacing and lofting skills.
• Strong understanding of surface continuity and manufacturable geometry.
• Experience with aircraft coordinate systems and airfoil data.
• Ability to build stable master-model architectures for multiple engineers.
• Translate conceptual geometry into production‑quality models and drawings.
• Knowledge of GD&T and engineering drawings.
• Experience with composite, molded, or aerospace structures.
• Portfolio showing complex lofting and surfacing work.

Responsibilities

• Own and maintain the authoritative master CAD model and outer mold line for Haast aircraft.
• Develop complete aircraft lofts from airfoil coordinates, surfaces, and configuration layouts.
• Create production‑quality surfaces for fuselage, wings, fairings, and assemblies.
• Establish reference geometry, stations, datums, and interface locations.
• Build parametric master sketches and skeleton models for multi-user workflows.
• Maintain continuity across complex aircraft surfaces.
• Evaluate surface quality with curvature and deviation checks.
• Convert surfaces into manufacturable composite structures and assemblies.
• Develop tooling surfaces, trim definitions, and assembly references.
• Ensure aerodynamics and structural requirements evolve without degrading master geometry.
• Manage references, configurations, and released CAD data.
• Identify surface gaps and non‑manufacturable geometry and resolve them.
• Produce detailed drawings and BOMs and support from design to production.
• Collaborate with aerodynamics, structures, manufacturing, and flight-test teams.
• Assist fabrication by resolving CAD discrepancies and fit issues.
• Help establish CAD architecture and drawing release standards.

Skills

Aircraft lofting

Surfaces design

Aerospace CAD

Master geometry

GD&T knowledge

Coordinate systems

Product definition

Tools

CATIA

Siemens NX

Creo

SolidWorks

Job description

Haast Autonomous is building an autonomous aircraft network for time-sensitive medical logistics. We’re developing long-range VTOL aircraft, autonomy software, and the operational foundation needed to move critical payloads between hospitals, labs, and healthcare facilities on-demand faster and more reliably.

We’re early, small, and moving quickly. Joining now means you'll have a direct role in shaping the foundation of Haast — our culture, engineering process, testing discipline, partner relationships, and the path from prototype to a real medical logistics network.

We’re looking for high-agency people who want ownership, urgency, and system‑level impact from day one.

The Role

Haast is seeking a Senior CAD Loft Engineer to own the geometric definition and master CAD models for our aircraft.

This is a highly specialized CAD position focused on aircraft lofting, advanced surfacing, outer-mold-line development, and production‑quality design definition. You will convert aerodynamic inputs, airfoil data, packaging requirements, and preliminary aircraft layouts into precise, continuous, manufacturable aircraft geometry.

You will be responsible for establishing and maintaining the master aircraft model from which structures, tooling, molds, drawings, and production parts are developed. Approximately 70–80% of this role will involve CAD modeling, surfacing, product definition, and drawing release.

The ideal candidate has previously lofted complete aircraft or major airframe sections and can demonstrate aircraft geometry that has been manufactured, assembled, and flown.

Responsibilities

• Own and maintain the authoritative master CAD model and outer mold line for Haast aircraft.

• Develop complete aircraft lofts from airfoil coordinates, aerodynamic surfaces, station data, packaging envelopes, and configuration layouts.

• Create production‑quality surfaces for the fuselage, wings, wing‑body intersections, fairings, nacelles, booms, empennage, payload doors, access panels, and propulsion integrations.

• Establish aircraft coordinate systems, reference geometry, waterlines, buttock lines, fuselage stations, master sections, datums, and interface locations.

• Build robust parametric models using master sketches, skeleton models, guide curves, boundary surfaces, multi‑section lofts, and top‑down design methods.

• Maintain appropriate positional, tangent, and curvature continuity across complex aircraft surfaces.

• Evaluate surface quality using curvature analysis, zebra analysis, deviation checks, section cuts, and other CAD inspection methods.

• Convert outer-mold-line surfaces into manufacturable composite structures, skins, cores, bulkheads, ribs, spars, frames, and bonded assemblies.

• Develop accurate split lines, trim definitions, offsets, tooling surfaces, molds, plugs, fixtures, and assembly references.

• Ensure that aerodynamic surfaces remain controlled as structural, payload, propulsion, avionics, and manufacturing requirements evolve.

• Manage external references, model dependencies, naming conventions, configurations, revisions, and released CAD data.

• Identify and resolve surface gaps, discontinuities, intersections, minimum‑radius problems, thickness conflicts, and non‑manufacturable geometry.

• Produce detailed part models, assemblies, engineering drawings, interface‑control drawings, GD&T, tolerance definitions, and bills of materials.

• Work closely with aerodynamicists, structural engineers, manufacturing partners, and the flight‑test team to incorporate design changes without degrading the master geometry.

• Support fabrication and assembly by investigating CAD discrepancies, tooling issues, part‑fit problems, and deviations from design intent.

• Help establish Haast’s standards for CAD architecture, geometric control, drawing release, and configuration management.

Required Qualifications

• At least two years of professional experience in aircraft lofting, airframe surface design, aerospace CAD, or aircraft product definition.

• Demonstrated experience developing the outer mold line or master geometry for a complete aircraft or major airframe assembly.

• Expert proficiency in CATIA, Siemens NX, Creo, SolidWorks, or an equivalent production CAD platform.

• Advanced capability in complex surfacing, multi‑section lofting, guide‑curve development, boundary surfaces, surface trimming, blending, and repair.

• Strong understanding of surface continuity, spline behavior, curvature control, and the relationship between aerodynamic intent and manufacturable geometry.

• Experience with aircraft coordinate systems, airfoil data, wing planforms, fuselage sections, aerodynamic intersections, and control‑surface geometry.

• Experience building stable master‑model or skeleton‑model CAD architectures that support multiple engineers and downstream parts.

• Ability to translate conceptual aircraft geometry into production‑quality models, drawings, tooling, and manufacturing data.

• Understanding of GD&T, tolerance analysis, engineering drawings, assembly interfaces, and configuration control.

• Experience with composite, molded, machined, or fabricated aerospace structures.

• Portfolio or work samples demonstrating complex aircraft lofting and surfacing work.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with fixed‑wing UAV, eVTOL, general‑aviation, or experimental‑aircraft development.

• Experience lofting composite fuselages, wings, fairings, nacelles, payload doors, and aerodynamic transitions.

• Proficiency with CATIA Generative Shape Design, Siemens NX Shape Studio, or equivalent advanced surfacing environments.

• Experience importing, cleaning, and controlling airfoil coordinates and aerodynamic reference geometry.

• Familiarity with PDM or PLM systems, model‑based definition, release workflows, and aerospace configuration‑control practices.

• Experience developing molds, tooling surfaces, trim fixtures, assembly jigs, and composite manufacturing data.

• Familiarity with CFD geometry preparation, mesh‑ready surface cleanup, and exchanging geometry with aerodynamic‑analysis tools.

• Hands‑on experience supporting aircraft fabrication, assembly, inspection, and flight testing.

What Success Looks Like

Within your first several weeks, you will establish a clean and controlled master aircraft model, improve the quality and stability of Haast’s outer‑mold‑line geometry, and create a reliable CAD foundation for structural design, tooling, manufacturing, and future aircraft configurations.

Your work will allow Haast to move from rapidly evolving prototype geometry to accurate, repeatable, production‑ready aircraft definition.

We care more about agency, ownership, taste, and evidence that you can build than whether you match every bullet point. If you have worked on aircraft, drones, robots, vehicles, rockets, or other hard technical systems and want to help build something from the ground up, we want to hear from you.