Principal eVTOL Engineer

About the role

You will join an eVTOL aircraft company as a principal engineer with org-wide technical scope, setting the direction for how the vehicle evolves across generations. This role exists for engineers whose judgment programs are built on: you will define architectures, kill bad ideas early, and grow the next generation of technical leaders. Your influence will extend from preliminary design through certification strategy and into the product roadmap, and your technical calls will outlive any single program. Your scope spans the entire engineering organization, and your technical standards, architecture decisions, and mentored leaders will compound in value long after the current program ships.

What you will achieve

• Define the vehicle architecture for the next-generation aircraft, making the configuration and technology choices the program commits to for years.
• Set technical standards and design practices across engineering, raising the bar for analysis rigor and review quality org-wide.
• Resolve the highest-stakes technical disputes in the company, from propulsion architecture to certification approach, with decisions that hold up under scrutiny.
• Build the technology roadmap, identifying which capabilities to develop in-house, which to buy, and which tempting bets to avoid.
• Develop senior engineers into technical leaders, creating a mentorship pipeline that outlasts any single program or product. Success is measured by the engineers who go on to own architectures of their own, carrying your standards forward.

What you will bring

Must-haves

• 12 or more years developing aircraft or similarly complex vehicles, with multiple programs taken through major milestones to test or service.
• Recognized technical authority in at least one core domain such as propulsion, aerodynamics, structures, or systems, with breadth across the vehicle.
• Track record of architecture-level decisions that proved correct in test and service, with the scars to prove the learning.
• Experience shaping certification strategy for novel aircraft or systems with the authorities.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor senior engineers and build technical organizations that deliver.
• Communication skills that move executives, regulators, and engineers toward the same technical conclusion.

Nice-to-haves

• Participation in industry standards bodies such as SAE, ASTM, or EUROCAE committees.
• Patent portfolio or published technical contributions in electric aviation.
• Experience leading technical due diligence for partnerships or acquisitions.
• Background briefing boards and investors on technical strategy and risk.