Lead Mechanical Engineer, Airframe

Poseidon Aerospace

California (MO)

On-site

USD 150,000 - 210,000

Full time

6 days ago

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Benefits offered by this job

Relocation support

Health benefits

6% Retirement matching

Flexible PTO

Free lunches

AI tools and subscriptions

Job summary

Poseidon Aerospace seeks a Lead Mechanical Engineer to own the structural and mechanical design of major airframe assemblies from concept through flight testing.

This hands-on role requires CAD, analysis, manufacturing, and testing involvement, plus setting technical direction and leading design reviews. You will mentor engineers and coordinate with propulsion, avionics, and controls teams.

Qualifications

Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related field.
7+ years of relevant mechanical/structural/aerospace experience.
Experience designing primary aircraft structures or large composite airframes.
Knowledge of composite materials and failure criteria.
Proficiency with CAD and FEA tools and first-principles verification.

Responsibilities

Lead design of primary aircraft structures, mechanisms, and major airframe assemblies.
Develop composite and metallic structures, joints, interfaces, and mounting systems.
Define load paths, design requirements, margins, and validation methods.
Perform hand calculations and finite element analyses.
Manage mechanical interfaces between airframe, propulsion, avionics, and controls.
Own CAD assemblies, drawings, BOMs, tolerances, and design releases.
Mentor engineers and lead design reviews.

Skills

CAD software

Finite element analysis

Leadership

Structural design

GD&T

Aerospace engineering

Prototyping & testing

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering

Tools

Fusion

SolidWorks

CATIA

Creo

ANSYS

Nastran

Abaqus

Fusion Simulation

Job description

About Poseidon Aerospace:

Poseidon Aerospace is reimagining how the world moves goods. We build and operate full-size autonomous cargo aircraft - capable of carrying two tons of payload over a thousand nautical miles. From remote communities to contested logistics operations, our platforms unlock a new cost curve for air freight, making it faster, cheaper, and accessible anywhere it's needed. Headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area with locations in Washington DC, Oregon, and Maine; we're building something consequential.

About the Role

The Lead Mechanical Engineer will own the structural and mechanical design of major aircraft assemblies from concept through flight testing.

This role is responsible for setting technical direction, leading design reviews, managing subsystem interfaces, and supporting other mechanical engineers. It is a hands-on engineering position that requires detailed involvement in CAD, analysis, manufacturing, assembly, and testing.

Responsibilities

Lead the design of primary aircraft structures, mechanisms, and major airframe assemblies
Develop composite and metallic structures, joints, interfaces, and mounting systems
Define structural load paths, design requirements, margins, and validation methods
Perform and review hand calculations and finite element analysis
Evaluate strength, stiffness, buckling, fatigue, vibration, and composite failure modes
Lead preliminary and critical design reviews
Own CAD assemblies, production drawings, bills of materials, tolerances, and design releases
Manage mechanical interfaces between the airframe, propulsion, avionics, flight controls, landing systems, and other subsystems
Design aircraft mechanisms, including control surfaces, doors, landing gear, actuation systems, and deployable systems
Work with manufacturing to develop tooling, assembly processes, inspection methods, and repair procedures
Plan and support component, structural, subsystem, and vehicle-level testing
Investigate failures, determine root causes, and implement corrective actions
Mentor mechanical engineers and review their design and analysis work
Support aircraft assembly, integration, ground testing, and flight testing

Required Qualifications

Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field
7 or more years of relevant mechanical, structural, or aerospace engineering experience
Experience designing primary aircraft structures or large composite airframes
Experience with bonded composite structures, sandwich panels, bonded inserts, and hybrid composite-metallic assemblies
Experience with aircraft mechanisms, actuation systems, control surfaces, doors, landing gear, or deployable systems
Knowledge of composite failure criteria, buckling, fatigue, vibration, modal analysis, or damage tolerance
Experience taking safety-critical hardware from concept through manufacturing and testing
Strong proficiency with CAD software such as Fusion, SolidWorks, CATIA, NX, or Creo
Strong proficiency with finite element analysis tools such as ANSYS, Nastran, Abaqus, Fusion Simulation, or similar
Ability to verify analysis using hand calculations and first-principles methods
Strong understanding of structural mechanics, load paths, joint design, material behavior, and mechanical failure modes
Experience applying GD&T and mechanical tolerancing to production drawings
Experience designing for manufacturing, assembly, inspection, maintenance, and repair
Experience leading technical reviews and making design decisions across multiple engineering teams
Comfortable working directly with aircraft hardware, prototypes, test fixtures, and shop tools

Preferred Qualifications

Experience designing structures for marine environments
Experience developing structural test plans, fixtures, instrumentation, and acceptance criteria
Familiarity with FAA certification, military airworthiness, or experimental flight-test programs
Proficiency with MATLAB or Python for engineering analysis
Experience with product lifecycle management and configuration control systems

Candidates who are not yet qualified for a Lead position may apply to our Mechanical Engineer openings.

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