Founding Mechanical & Aerodynamics Engineer

Approach Venture; Hawthorne (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Bonuses

Medical coverage

Meals provided

Paid time off

Job summary

Approach Venture seeks a Founding Mechanical & Aerodynamics Engineer in Hawthorne, CA to own the airframe, mechanisms, and subsystem packaging. You will move between CAD, CFD, and testing to optimize performance and cost for scalable production.

The role covers aerodynamic analyses, tradeoffs, and integration with suppliers and machine shops, with equity and early-stage growth opportunities in a seed-stage defense startup.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• Experience owning complex hardware assemblies.
• Hands-on fabrication, assembly, integration, and testing experience.
• Strong proficiency in 3D CAD and production drawing development.
• Practical knowledge of GD&T and tolerance analysis.
• Experience designing hardware for manufacturing rather than prototype-only development.

Responsibilities

• Own the mechanical architecture of the vehicle, including airframe, structures, control surfaces, mechanisms, and subsystem integration.
• Develop concepts from early vehicle layout through detailed design, fabrication, qualification, and flight.
• Run CFD and other aerodynamic analyses to understand vehicle performance across the flight envelope.
• Size and optimize control surfaces based on stability, control authority, maneuverability, and mission requirements.
• Use aerodynamic results to influence vehicle shape, packaging, and overall configuration.
• Perform structural, thermal, and dynamic analysis using both first-principles calculations and FEA.
• Define and defend structural margins across relevant load cases.
• Balance aerodynamic performance against mass, stiffness, manufacturability, complexity, and unit cost.
• Reduce part count and production cost through material selection, process development, and thoughtful design simplification.
• Own CAD models, production drawings, GD&T, tolerance stack-ups, bills of materials, and configuration control.
• Design hardware across machining, sheet metal, composites, castings, molded components, and other relevant manufacturing processes.
• Develop fixtures, tooling, and assembly approaches that support faster and more repeatable production.
• Plan and execute static, vibration, shock, thermal, and other environmental qualification testing.
• Work directly with machine shops, fabricators, and suppliers to improve manufacturability, quality, cost, and lead time.
• Use internal fabrication capabilities to prototype, test, and iterate quickly.
• Support vehicle assembly, integration, ground testing, and flight-test operations.
• Reconstruct vehicle performance from flight data and compare results against analytical and simulation models.
• Lead teardown, root-cause analysis, and corrective actions following hardware or flight failures.

Skills

3D CAD

FEA

Aerodynamics

GD&T

Python

MATLAB

Manufacturing experience

Education

Bachelor’s degree or higher in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical discipline

Tools

CFD

Job description

Founding Mechanical & Aerodynamics Engineer – Own the airframe of a new class of interceptor systems

Hawthorne, California | On-site

Opportunity Summary

Join a recently funded seed-stage defense technology startup developing a new generation of low-cost interceptor systems for rapidly evolving airborne threats. The company has already built and demonstrated working flight hardware with military users and is now expanding its core engineering team as it moves from early demonstrations toward deployable systems and scalable production. As a Founding Mechanical & Aerodynamics Engineer, you will own the physical vehicle from external shape through structures, mechanisms, subsystem packaging, and flight performance. You will move between CAD, aerodynamic analysis, structural simulation, fabrication, testing, and flight data while making the tradeoffs required to build a vehicle that is both highly capable and inexpensive enough to manufacture at meaningful volume.

About Us

We are a seed-stage defense technology company developing compact, highly maneuverable interceptor systems designed around lower cost, rapid iteration, and scalable manufacturing. The team is intentionally small, with engineers owning major portions of the vehicle from initial design through flight testing. The company has completed successful customer demonstrations, recently secured additional financing, and is now building out several founding-level engineering functions.

Job Duties

• Own the mechanical architecture of the vehicle, including airframe, structures, control surfaces, mechanisms, and subsystem integration
• Develop concepts from early vehicle layout through detailed design, fabrication, qualification, and flight
• Run CFD and other aerodynamic analyses to understand vehicle performance across the flight envelope
• Size and optimize control surfaces based on stability, control authority, maneuverability, and mission requirements
• Use aerodynamic results to influence vehicle shape, packaging, and overall configuration
• Perform structural, thermal, and dynamic analysis using both first-principles calculations and FEA
• Define and defend structural margins across relevant load cases
• Balance aerodynamic performance against mass, stiffness, manufacturability, complexity, and unit cost
• Reduce part count and production cost through material selection, process development, and thoughtful design simplification
• Own CAD models, production drawings, GD&T, tolerance stack-ups, bills of materials, and configuration control
• Design hardware across machining, sheet metal, composites, castings, molded components, and other relevant manufacturing processes
• Develop fixtures, tooling, and assembly approaches that support faster and more repeatable production
• Plan and execute static, vibration, shock, thermal, and other environmental qualification testing
• Work directly with machine shops, fabricators, and suppliers to improve manufacturability, quality, cost, and lead time
• Use internal fabrication capabilities to prototype, test, and iterate quickly
• Support vehicle assembly, integration, ground testing, and flight-test operations
• Reconstruct vehicle performance from flight data and compare results against analytical and simulation models
• Lead teardown, root-cause analysis, and corrective actions following hardware or flight failures

Qualifications

• Experience taking mechanical hardware from concept through fabrication, testing, and a flown or fielded product
• Strong mechanical design fundamentals and experience owning complex hardware assemblies
• Working knowledge of aerodynamics and hands-on experience with CFD or comparable aerodynamic analysis
• Strong understanding of structural mechanics, dynamics, and load-path development
• Experience performing FEA and validating analysis with first-principles calculations
• Strong proficiency in 3D CAD and production drawing development
• Practical knowledge of GD&T and tolerance analysis
• Experience designing hardware for manufacturing rather than prototype-only development
• Familiarity with machining, sheet metal, composites, castings, injection molding, or similar manufacturing processes
• Direct experience working with machine shops, fabricators, and external suppliers
• Hands-on fabrication, assembly, integration, and testing experience
• Comfort moving between analytical work, CAD, the shop floor, and flight-test operations
• Experience using Python, MATLAB, or similar tools for engineering analysis, automation, and data reduction
• Strong technical judgment and the ability to independently own major vehicle-level decisions
• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical discipline
• Ability to work on-site in Hawthorne, California

Preferred Experience

• Mechanical or aerodynamic development for missiles, interceptors, UAS, high-speed aircraft, or other flight vehicles
• Vehicle-level aerodynamic design and configuration development
• Stability and control analysis
• Wind-tunnel testing or experimental aerodynamics
• Design of control surfaces, actuators, deployable mechanisms, or compact flight hardware
• Structural qualification for high-vibration, shock, or dynamic environments
• Experience with lightweight structures and aggressive mass constraints
• High-rate manufacturing, design-for-production, or major cost-reduction programs
• Previous experience in a small startup or advanced R&D team where engineers owned major portions of a vehicle

Why Join Us

• Take founding-level ownership of the vehicle’s mechanical and aerodynamic architecture
• Build on a platform that has already completed successful real-world demonstrations
• Own hardware from initial analysis through CAD, fabrication, testing, and flight
• Make vehicle-level decisions rather than working on a narrow component within a larger program
• Work in an environment where designs can move from your screen to physical hardware and flight quickly
• Help shape hardware around scalable production and aggressive cost targets from the beginning
• Meaningful early-stage equity
• Performance-based bonuses for exceptional contributions
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Company-provided meals during working days and launch activities
• Paid time off and company holidays

Compensation Details

$120,000 – $150,000

LI-AV