Lead MDAO Engineer — UAS Weapons Performance

Zone 5 Technologies; Fort Worth (TX); On-site; USD 149,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical

Dental

Vision

401k with company-match

Paid time off

Sick time

Holidays

Job summary

Zone 5 Technologies in the United States is seeking an experienced MDAO Lead to join the Weapons Performance team. You will drive multidisciplinary design and optimization, integrating aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, and trajectory models into vehicle-level trade studies for air-launched effects and interceptors.

You will mentor engineers, set technical direction for MDAO, and collaborate across Aerodynamics, Structures, Propulsion, GNC, and Systems Engineering to ensure robust performance

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering; Master's degree preferred.
• 10+ years leading multidisciplinary design, analysis, and optimization in a program-driven environment.
• Proven ability delivering an MDAO effort to hardware on a program of record.
• Strong cross-discipline collaboration and documentation of cross-discipline workflows.
• Experience with OpenMDAO, ModelCenter/ Phoenix Integration, or similar frameworks.
• Experience building validation libraries with unit tests for MDAO code.
• Familiarity with the digital thread and tools like Cameo.
• Experience with distributed computing and HPC environments.
• Security clearance eligibility (U.S. DoD).

Responsibilities

• Lead MDAO efforts coupling aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, and trajectory models into vehicle-level trade studies.
• Establish shared MDAO methods and tools; document procedures for sizing, trade studies, and design optimization.
• Develop automated workflows integrating CAD, CFD, FEA outputs into optimization loops for multiple teams.
• Author and maintain architecture documentation for the MDAO toolset.
• Set up development pipelines (Git, CI/CD) to manage ongoing MDAO tool development.
• Incorporate feedback from engineers into ongoing tool development and prioritization.
• Conduct trade studies and sensitivity analyses to inform design decisions.
• Collaborate to translate single-discipline analyses into system-level design decisions.
• Validate MDAO designs against wind tunnel, ground test, and flight data; lead root-cause investigations.
• Support RFI/RFP proposals by providing early-stage sizing and feasibility assessments.
• Mentor engineers on MDAO methods and review analyses.
• Present findings at design reviews (PDR, CDR) and internal discussions.

Skills

10+ years exp

Python

MATLAB

C++

HPC

Git

OpenMDAO

ModelCenter

Phoenix Integration

CAD/CFD/FEA integration

6-DOF trajectory modeling

Strong communication

Security clearance

Education

Bachelor's degree in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering

Master's degree preferred

Tools

SolidWorks

CATIA

Siemens NX

FUN3D

OVERFLOW

STAR-CCM+

ANSYS Fluent

NASTRAN/PATRAN

ANSYS

Cameo

Job description

Zone 5 Technologies in the United States is seeking an experienced MDAO Lead to join the Weapons Performance team. You will drive multidisciplinary design and optimization, integrating aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, and trajectory models into vehicle-level trade studies for air-launched effects and interceptors.

You will mentor engineers, set technical direction for MDAO, and collaborate across Aerodynamics, Structures, Propulsion, GNC, and Systems Engineering to ensure robust performance