UAS Mechanical Design Engineer - Payload Systems

Skyeton; North Las Vegas (NV); On-site; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid Time Off

401k with company match

Medical insurance

Job summary

Skyeton in the United States is seeking a mechanical engineer to own the payload trays, mounts, and airframe interfaces for the Raybird, ensuring weight, CG, and endurance budgets while delivering fabrication‑ready drawings.

You will perform CAD/FEA trade studies, GD&T specification, and support integration labs and flight testing, collaborating with machinists and technicians to bring hardware to life and demonstrations to customers.

Qualifications

• Minimum 3–5 years designing and integrating mechanical hardware for UAS, aircraft, or other flight/defense programs.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering, or equivalent hands‑on experience.
• Fluency in Solidworks (or CATIA, Creo, or NX) for detailed part, assembly, surfacing, and drawing work.
• Comfort running FEA and hand calculations for structural, vibration, and thermal margins (Solidworks Simulation, ANSYS, or similar).
• Strong command of GD&T (ASME Y14.5), tolerance stack-ups, and design-for-manufacture across machined, sheet‑metal, composite, and printed parts.
• A track record of weight- and CG-conscious design on mass‑constrained systems.
• Willingness to be hands‑on in the lab and at the flight line, including test support at U.S. military installations.
• Sharp attention to detail and a bias toward getting hardware flying.

Responsibilities

• Own the mechanical design of payload trays, mounts, and airframe interfaces that carry EO/IR, radar, SAR, and SIGINT payloads on the Raybird.
• Package mission equipment into tight internal volumes while holding to the platform’s weight, center-of-gravity, and endurance budgets.
• Design vibration isolation, shock protection, and thermal paths so sensitive gimbals survive catapult launch and parachute-airbag recovery.
• Run CAD and FEA trade studies to validate structural, vibration, and thermal margins before hardware reaches the bench.
• Produce fabrication-ready drawings, GD&T, and assembly documentation, and work directly with machinists and technicians to get parts made.
• Stand up integration-lab fixtures, jigs, and test stands, and support fit-checks and environmental testing.
• Turn hardware around quickly for flight test and customer demonstrations, then iterate on what the flight data shows.

Skills

Mechanical design

GD&T

FEA

Structural analysis

UAS experience

Hands-on hardware

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering

Tools

Solidworks

CATIA

Creo

NX

ANSYS

Job description

Skyeton in the United States is seeking a mechanical engineer to own the payload trays, mounts, and airframe interfaces for the Raybird, ensuring weight, CG, and endurance budgets while delivering fabrication‑ready drawings.

You will perform CAD/FEA trade studies, GD&T specification, and support integration labs and flight testing, collaborating with machinists and technicians to bring hardware to life and demonstrations to customers.