Drone Structural Engineer

Drone Mid-level (L4 equivalent) 2-5 years

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Anduril

Skydio

Shield AI

Zipline

DJI

AeroVironment

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The job description

Tech stack. FEA (ANSYS, Nastran), composite design and analysis, SolidWorks/CATIA, hand calculations, vibration analysis, DFM for composites, material testing, bonded joints

About the role

You will join a drone technology company designing the airframes that carry everything else: composite and metallic structures that must be light, stiff, and survivable. You analyze, design, and test primary structure from motor arms to fuselages, balancing weight against crashworthiness and manufacturability. Every gram you save without compromising strength goes straight into payload or endurance, which makes your discipline one of the purest forms of leverage on the aircraft. You will develop and maintain the company's structural analysis handbook, capturing material allowables, joint design rules, and lessons learned from test failures, and you will review supplier structural designs to ensure outsourced components meet the same standards as in-house hardware before they fly. Your analyses will be independently reviewed, and your test reports will form part of the evidence package behind every airworthiness claim.

What you will achieve

Design airframe structures that meet strength, stiffness, and weight targets, validated by analysis and physical test with documented margins.
Reduce structural weight measurably through composite optimization, topology studies, and disciplined load-path design.
Cut structural failures in service by establishing analysis standards, test correlation practices, and design allowables the whole team trusts.
Accelerate design cycles with rapid FEA turnaround and clear communication of results to designers and systems engineers.
Qualify structures through static, vibration, and drop testing, producing reports that support certification efforts and customer confidence.

What you will bring

Must-haves

2-5 years of experience in structural analysis or design for UAVs, aerospace products, or lightweight composite structures.
Proficiency with FEA tools such as ANSYS or Nastran for static, modal, and buckling analysis of composite structures.
Strong fundamentals: mechanics of materials, composite laminate theory, and bolted and bonded joint analysis.
Experience with composite manufacturing processes including layup, infusion, and prepreg, plus designing for producibility.
Ability to perform hand calculations to sanity-check FEA results and make fast, defensible design decisions.
Familiarity with vibration and fatigue considerations specific to rotorcraft structures.
Bachelor's degree in aerospace or mechanical engineering.

Nice-to-haves

Experience with crashworthiness analysis or instrumented drop testing.
Knowledge of adhesive bonding qualification, surface preparation, and process control.
Background in topology optimization tools applied to real production parts.
Experience with damage tolerance and repair design for composite airframes.