Autonomous Aircraft Propulsion & Power Systems Engineer

Powerus; Charlotte (NC); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Powerus is seeking a Propulsion and Power Systems Engineer to own electric propulsion and electrical power across unmanned platforms. Your work will span motor, ESC, and propeller selection, battery pack design, power distribution, and thermal management, with validation on benches and in flight.

Role requires U.S. Person status and a background in propulsion or powertrains for aircraft, vehicles, or robotics.

Qualifications

• Degree in electrical, mechanical, or aerospace engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience with electric propulsion or electric powertrain systems on aircraft, vehicles, robotics, or comparable hardware.
• Working knowledge of lithium battery systems, including pack design considerations, BMS behavior, and safety practices.
• Familiarity with power electronics and power distribution design, including protection and thermal limits.
• Hands-on test experience - instrumenting hardware, capturing data, and drawing conclusions from it.

Responsibilities

• Define propulsion architecture and size motor, ESC, and propeller combinations against mission, endurance, and thrust requirements.
• Design and specify battery packs, including cell selection, pack configuration, BMS integration, and charge and discharge behavior.
• Design power distribution and conversion, covering redundancy, protection, wiring, and bus architecture for flight-critical loads.
• Model and measure vehicle-level energy budgets, and validate predicted endurance against flight data.
• Own thermal management for propulsion and power electronics, from analysis through instrumented testing.
• Build and run bench, dynamometer, and environmental test campaigns to characterize efficiency, margin, and failure behavior.
• Define battery safety, handling, transport, and abuse-response practices with manufacturing and operations.
• Work with manufacturing and supply chain on qualification, sourcing alternates, and design for repeatable build

Skills

Electrical engineering

Aerospace engineering

Electric propulsion

Battery systems

Power electronics

Hands-on testing

Education

Electrical/Mechanical/Aerospace engineering degree

Tools

Dynamometer testing

Data acquisition

Thermal analysis

Job description

Powerus is seeking a Propulsion and Power Systems Engineer to own electric propulsion and electrical power across unmanned platforms. Your work will span motor, ESC, and propeller selection, battery pack design, power distribution, and thermal management, with validation on benches and in flight.

Role requires U.S. Person status and a background in propulsion or powertrains for aircraft, vehicles, or robotics.