Lead Mechanical Engineer - Autonomous Airframe Systems

Poseidon Aerospace; Alameda (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation support

Health benefits

Equity/early-stage equity

6% retirement matching

Flexible PTO

Free lunches and snacks

Job summary

Poseidon Aerospace in the San Francisco Bay Area is seeking a Lead Mechanical Engineer to own the structural and mechanical design of major aircraft assemblies from concept through flight testing. This role is hands-on, requiring active involvement in CAD, analysis, manufacturing, assembly, and testing.

The Lead Mechanical Engineer will set technical direction, lead design reviews, and manage subsystem interfaces while mentoring other engineers and coordinating across airframe, propulsion,

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

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

Skills

CAD software

FEM tools

Structural analysis

Aerospace design

Design reviews

GD&T and tolerancing

Education

Bachelor’s or higher in Mechanical/Aerospace Engineering

Tools

Fusion

SolidWorks

CATIA

NX

Creo

ANSYS

Nastran

Abaqus

Job description

Poseidon Aerospace in the San Francisco Bay Area is seeking a Lead Mechanical Engineer to own the structural and mechanical design of major aircraft assemblies from concept through flight testing. This role is hands-on, requiring active involvement in CAD, analysis, manufacturing, assembly, and testing.

The Lead Mechanical Engineer will set technical direction, lead design reviews, and manage subsystem interfaces while mentoring other engineers and coordinating across airframe, propulsion,