Senior Structures Design Engineer – Aircraft & Composites

Swarm Aero; Fayetteville (AR); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Meaningful equity

Competitive salary

Medical, dental, vision, and 401k

PTO and paid sick leave

Monthly wellness stipend

Daily catered lunch

Paid parental leave

Direct impact on national security

World-class team

Job summary

Swarm Aero is building a Group 5 autonomous aircraft and seeks a structures design engineer to own parts from concept through first article. You will design real hardware, size airframe components, and drive parts end to end with close vendor coordination.

You will work in CAD and FEA most days, with hands-on fabrication and frequent collaboration with manufacturing to ensure builds match the model. This is a fast-moving, doer‑oriented role in a small team.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field (advanced degree preferred).
• 5+ years of experience in composite structure design for aircraft, spacecraft, or similar vehicles.
• Deep understanding of composite and metal material properties, composite laminate design, composite structure analysis, bonding and joining techniques.
• Strong expertise in CAD software, particularly Siemens NX and Fibersim, or equivalent software.
• Led the design and analysis of composite structures throughout the product lifecycle, from conceptualization to production.
• Hands‑on experience with composite part fabrication and bonding.
• Familiarity with aviation industry standards and DoD certification requirements.
• Ability and willingness to travel to our Oxnard headquarters for onsite collaboration and meetings.

Responsibilities

• Own structural design and sizing for primary and secondary airframe structure, including wing, fuselage, empennage, and major joints
• Develop the loads and criteria set for the aircraft and turn it into sized structure with documented margins
• Run static, buckling, fatigue, and dynamic analysis in FEA, and know when hand calcs are the faster and better answer
• Design in composites and metallics, and make the call on which belongs where based on weight, cost, and rate
• Work directly with manufacturing on layup design, tooling concepts, part count, and assembly sequence so the design we release is the design we can build
• Define and run structural test, from coupon and element testing through component and full scale static test, and reconcile test results against the model
• Support integration of propulsion, landing or recovery systems, payload bays, and control surface actuation into the structure
• Own your parts end to end, from concept through drawings, vendor coordination, first article, and flight

Skills

Composite structure design

FEA analysis

Hands-on fabrication

Aerospace engineering

Travel willingness

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering

Tools

Siemens NX

Fibersim

Teamcenter

Job description

Swarm Aero is building a Group 5 autonomous aircraft and seeks a structures design engineer to own parts from concept through first article. You will design real hardware, size airframe components, and drive parts end to end with close vendor coordination.

You will work in CAD and FEA most days, with hands-on fabrication and frequent collaboration with manufacturing to ensure builds match the model. This is a fast-moving, doer‑oriented role in a small team.