Structures Design Lead

Swarmaero

Oxnard (CA)

On-site

USD 200,000 - 300,000

Full time

14 days+

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Benefits offered by this job

Meaningful equity

Medical, dental, vision, and 401k

PTO and paid sick leave

Monthly wellness stipend

Daily catered lunch

Paid parental leave

Job summary

Swarmaero in Oxnard, California is looking for a Structures Design Lead to drive the design and development of a groundbreaking aircraft from concept through production. You will significantly impact a critical national security mission by leading a small team of engineers without bureaucratic constraints. Competitive compensation includes a base salary of $200K - $300K plus meaningful equity and benefits including medical, dental, and wellness stipends. Join a world-class team solving complex problems in defense technology.

Qualifications

Experience designing composite airframe structures that flew.
Owned programs from concept to production under real pressure.
Ability to translate performance and weight targets into buildable components.

Responsibilities

Drive structural design and development for the aircraft.
Generate CAD directly leading to hardware production.
Mentor engineers and lead design reviews.

Skills

Composite airframe structures

Design reviews

Mentorship

DFM

Problem-solving

Tools

CAD

Job description

The Call You've Been Waiting For

Structures Design Lead

You've spent years doing exceptional work on programs that will never have your name on them. You've watched decisions get made by committee. You've seen great ideas die in review cycles. You've shipped hardware you're proud of, but always wondered what you could do if someone just got out of the way and let you build.

That call is here.

Somewhere in Southern California, a small group of engineers is doing something that hasn't been done before. They're designing an aircraft from scratch. Not an iteration, not a derivative. A genuinely new machine built for a mission that didn't exist a decade ago. Autonomous swarming at scale. The kind of air power that changes the calculus of modern warfare.

The team is small on purpose. No layers. No bureaucracy. Just a handful of the best structures and airframe engineers in the country, working with the urgency of people who understand what's at stake and the freedom of people who've earned the trust to execute.

There is an open seat at that table.

The person who fills it has designed composite airframe structures that flew. They've owned programs from blank sheet to production hardware and have the instincts that only come from doing it under real pressure. They think in load paths, laminates, and joints. They've done their best work on small teams, in rooms where there was no one to escalated to, where the answer had to come from them.

The Work

You will be one of a small group of engineers responsible for the airframe and composite structures of this aircraft from concept through production hardware. That means driving structural design and development, translating performance and weight targets into things that can actually be built, generating CAD that goes straight to hardware, sizing structure and joints under real constraints, and setting the standards the team builds on. You will run design reviews, own DFM, work directly with manufacturing and suppliers, and mentor the engineers around you.

What You Bring

You have designed composite airframe structures that flew. You have owned the full arc from blank sheet to production hardware and have the intuition that only comes from doing it on real programs under real pressure. You think in laminates, load paths, and joints. You have solved problems that didn't have a textbook answer. You have probably done it on a small team where there was no one to hand it off to.

Compensation

$200K - $300K base + meaningful equity in a high-growth defense technology company.

Full medical, dental, vision, 401(k), wellness stipend, daily catered lunch, and paid parental leave.

What We Offer