MDAO Lead: Weapons Performance for Next-Gen UAS

Zone 5 Technologies; Fort Walton Beach (FL); On-site; USD 149,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision benefits

401(k) with company-match

Paid time off and holidays

Job summary

Zone 5 Technologies in Fort Walton Beach, FL is seeking an experienced MDAO Lead to join our Weapons Performance team, guiding multidisciplinary design and optimization across aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, and GNC for air‑launched weapons and future munitions.

You will mentor engineers, set technical direction for MDAO, and ensure models translate into system‑level sizing and trade studies with focus on reliable performance under demanding flight conditions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering; master's preferred.
• 10+ years leading MDAO design/analysis in a program-driven environment.
• Experience delivering an MDAO effort to real hardware on a program of record.
• Experience with OpenMDAO, ModelCenter/Phoenix Integration, or custom optimization pipelines.
• Experience integrating CAD/CFD/FEA toolchains into a system-level design workflow.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. DoD security clearance; U.S. Person under ITAR preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead multidisciplinary design, analysis, and optimization that couple disciplines into vehicle-level trade studies for missiles, interceptors, and related hardware.
• Establish shared MDAO methods, document procedures, and improve data consistency across programs.
• Develop automated workflows that integrate CAD, CFD, FEA, and simulations into optimization loops.
• Author and maintain architecture documentation for the MDAO toolset.
• Set up development pipelines (Git, CI/CD, issue tracking) for ongoing toolset development.
• Incorporate stakeholder feedback to prioritize MDAO toolset enhancements.
• Conduct trade studies and sensitivity analyses to inform design decisions.
• Collaborate across disciplines to translate single-discipline analyses into system-level sizing decisions.
• Validate MDAO-driven designs against wind tunnel, ground test, and flight test data.
• Support RFI/RFP responses and new program capture with early-stage sizing and feasibility assessments.
• Mentor engineers on MDAO methods and present findings at design reviews.

Skills

MDAO leadership

Cross-disciplinary collaboration

System-level thinking

Python scripting

Education

Bachelor's in Aerospace/Mechanical Eng

Master's degree preferred

Tools

SolidWorks

CATIA

Siemens NX

OpenMDAO

Job description

Zone 5 Technologies in Fort Walton Beach, FL is seeking an experienced MDAO Lead to join our Weapons Performance team, guiding multidisciplinary design and optimization across aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, and GNC for air‑launched weapons and future munitions.

You will mentor engineers, set technical direction for MDAO, and ensure models translate into system‑level sizing and trade studies with focus on reliable performance under demanding flight conditions.