Chief Aerospace Engineer – Defense Flight Systems

Astro Mechanica; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

401(k) program and stock options

Flexible time-off policy

Flexible work environment

Job summary

Astro Mechanica invites an accomplished Chief Engineer to guide the technical development of our aircraft for military applications. This senior leadership role demands ownership of engineering integrity, performance, and delivery across all disciplines while balancing schedules and budgets in a fast-moving aerospace program.

You'll steer propulsion, structures, avionics, and flight controls, ensuring traceability from requirements to verification, and overseeing design authority and risk

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field (Master's or PhD preferred).
• 10+ years of experience in aircraft design and development, with significant experience in flight vehicles.
• Prior experience supporting defense or military aerospace programs, including familiarity with defense acquisition processes.
• Demonstrated experience owning technical, schedule, and cost outcomes on a complex aerospace program.
• Deep working knowledge of aircraft systems integration (propulsion, structures, aerodynamics, avionics).
• Strong track record of engaging with government customers, prime contractors, or defense agencies.
• U.S. citizenship required; Secret Clearance required, Top Secret desired.

Responsibilities

• Technical Leadership: Drive aircraft development across all subsystems — propulsion, aerostructures, avionics, flight controls, thermal management, and systems integration — to achieve performance, safety, and mission objectives.
• Stakeholder Communication: Communicate clearly and proactively with internal teams and external stakeholders on technical developments, design challenges, risk mitigation, and path forward.
• Design Authority: Serve as the final engineering authority on design decisions, ensuring configuration control and technical baseline integrity across the program.
• Requirements Management: Translate defense customer and mission requirements into engineering specifications, ensuring traceability from requirements through design, test, and verification.
• Risk Management: Identify, track, and mitigate technical risks; lead root-cause investigations and corrective action for critical design or test issues.
• Cross-Functional Coordination: Align engineering, manufacturing, quality, flight test, and program management teams around a unified technical plan.
• Team Development: Mentor and grow a high-performing engineering organization, fostering a culture of technical excellence and accountability.
• Test & Certification Support: Guide analysis, ground test, and flight test campaigns to validate performance and support certification/airworthiness milestones.

Skills

Aerospace engineering

Systems integration

Defense programs

Leadership

DoD clearance

Education

Master's degree

PhD preferred

Job description

Astro Mechanica invites an accomplished Chief Engineer to guide the technical development of our aircraft for military applications. This senior leadership role demands ownership of engineering integrity, performance, and delivery across all disciplines while balancing schedules and budgets in a fast-moving aerospace program.

You'll steer propulsion, structures, avionics, and flight controls, ensuring traceability from requirements to verification, and overseeing design authority and risk