Senior Aircraft Loads & Dynamics Engineer - Hands-On Impact

Zipline; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 215,000; Full time

Job summary

Zipline, based in South San Francisco, is seeking a seasoned loads and dynamics engineer to drive hardware and product design decisions for its delivery aircraft. You’ll develop vehicle load cases, set analysis requirements, and lead analysis-test loops to keep vehicles safe, light, and scalable.

You’ll collaborate with structures, aerodynamics, GNC, systems, and powertrain teams, perform FE modeling and dynamic testing, and mentor others while building in-house tools and processes.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in aerospace or mechanical engineering, or related field.
• 7+ years of experience in design and analysis of aircraft structures.
• Expertise in aircraft loads analysis and structural dynamics.

Responsibilities

• Own loads and dynamics analysis for Zipline’s aircraft.
• Perform dynamic analyses of aircraft components, including structural modes, random vibration, and forced harmonic vibration.
• Define program loads requirements that support flight performance and vehicle safety.
• Build finite element models for structural and loads analyses.
• Build and run multi-body simulations assessing the dynamics of everything from nominal flight through to parachute deployment.
• Collaborate across hardware, software, and vehicle operations to drive aircraft configuration and performance decisions.
• Evaluate static strength and fatigue life of aircraft structures using classical hand calculations and finite element analysis.
• Execute dynamic testing from start-to-finish including pre-test analysis, instrumentation, testing, data analysis, signal processing and model correlation.
• Level-up the engineering organization by providing mentorship, guidance, best practices, and building standardized in-house tools and processes.

Skills

Loads analysis

Structural dynamics

Python

MATLAB

Hardware intuition

Education

Bachelor’s degree in aerospace or mechanical engineering

Tools

FEMAP

NASTRAN

Siemens Simcenter

Zona

ZAERO

RCAS

Job description

Zipline, based in South San Francisco, is seeking a seasoned loads and dynamics engineer to drive hardware and product design decisions for its delivery aircraft. You’ll develop vehicle load cases, set analysis requirements, and lead analysis-test loops to keep vehicles safe, light, and scalable.

You’ll collaborate with structures, aerodynamics, GNC, systems, and powertrain teams, perform FE modeling and dynamic testing, and mentor others while building in-house tools and processes.