The Role

Responsible Engineer for aeroelastic analysis and for the design, execution, and analysis of static and dynamic tests that verify structural strength, load paths, stiffness, and dynamic characteristics of unmanned aircraft platforms. The engineer owns structural-dynamic and aeroelastic models, plans and runs the tests that validate those models, and closes the loop between prediction and measurement.

The role supports the full product development cycle by ensuring that structural performance, strength, stiffness, fatigue life, flutter margins, and dynamic characteristics are predicted, measured, correlated, and validated against certification and design requirements. The engineer works with design, stress, flight sciences, flight controls, manufacturing, and instrumentation to produce airworthy structure and a flight-cleared envelope.

Key Responsibilities

• Own structural-dynamic and aeroelastic finite element models from concept through flight clearance, including mass, stiffness, and damping of the airframe, control surfaces, stores, and landing gear.
• Establish aeroelastic design criteria, flutter and divergence margins, and loads assumptions for new and modified configurations.
• Perform normal-modes, static aeroelastic, flutter, and aeroelastic loads analyses, and deliver design loads and clearance recommendations to stress, design, and flight sciences.
• Assess control-surface mass balance, freeplay, stiffness, and relevant failure modes, and recommend design changes that restore required flutter margins.
• Support configuration trades with aeroelastic screening and recommend stiffness or mass-balance changes that keep the design flutter-free.
• Develop static, modal, and aeroelastic test plans, procedures, load schedules, instrumentation layouts, and risk assessments.
• Design structural test fixtures, reaction frames, load-introduction systems, and actuator/whiffletree arrangements that simulate aerodynamic, landing, propulsion, and operational loads.
• Specify, install, and operate structural instrumentation, including strain gages, displacement transducers, load cells, inclinometers, accelerometers, and thermocouples.
• Conduct proof, limit, ultimate, and component qualification tests, and plan and execute Ground Vibration Tests and related modal surveys.
• Support aeroelastic and flutter-model wind-tunnel tests and flight-flutter testing, including test-point definition, excitation methods, go/no-go criteria, and data reduction.
• Monitor structural response during testing, assess safety and test progress in real time, and reduce measured data to verify compliance with design requirements.
• Correlate measured loads, strains, deflections, frequencies, and mode shapes with analytical predictions and update models accordingly.
• Prepare analysis, test, flutter, and certification documentation suitable for airworthiness and customer review.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a closely related engineering discipline.
• Minimum 3–8 years of experience in aircraft structural dynamics, aeroelasticity, flutter, modal testing, or related aerospace analysis and test.
• Demonstrated ability to perform and interpret structural-dynamic and aeroelastic analyses, including normal modes, flutter, and aeroelastic loads.
• Experience planning, executing, and documenting structural or modal test programs.
• Experience correlating test results with finite-element models and using that correlation to refine analysis predictions.
• Proficiency with finite-element analysis tools (MSC Nastran or equivalent) and with engineering scripting in MATLAB or Python.
• Working knowledge of aerospace test instrumentation and data-acquisition systems.
• Understanding of digital signal processing as applied to structural dynamics and modal testing.
• Ability to develop test and analysis plans and write clear technical reports.
• Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and communication skills, with the ability to work across design, stress, flight sciences, flight test, and manufacturing.
• Ability to travel and support ground and flight-test activities in laboratory, wind-tunnel, and flight-line environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering with emphasis in structural dynamics, aeroelasticity, or flight sciences.
• Experience creating and maintaining Global Finite Element Models (GFEM), including assembly of component models, load-path verification, and model checkout.
• Direct experience clearing a flight envelope: flutter analysis, GVT correlation, flight-flutter-test support, and written flutter substantiation.
• Hands-on experience with Ground Vibration Testing, Experimental Modal Analysis (EMA), Operational Modal Analysis (OMA), and modal-parameter identification.
• Experience conducting static and dynamic wind-tunnel testing, including aeroelastic and flutter-model testing, calibration, and data reduction.
• Experience with aeroservoelasticity, control-surface freeplay, actuator modeling, and closed-loop flutter.
• Familiarity with applicable airworthiness and loads/flutter criteria (for example MIL-A-8870, JSSG-2006, MIL-STD-1530, 14 CFR 23/25.629, or equivalent customer specs).
• Experience with high-aspect-ratio or otherwise flexible unmanned airframes, store configurations, and rapid prototype or incremental-clearance programs.
• Proficiency with FEMAP, HyperMesh, ANSYS, ZAERO, Nastran SOL 144/145/146, LabVIEW, NI DIAdem, Siemens Simcenter Testlab, Dewesoft, Crystal Instruments EDM, or equivalent tools.

Additional Requirements