Mechanical Engineer, Drone

Applied Intuition • Sunnyvale, CA

1d • Onsite

About The Position

As a Mechanical Engineer on Applied Intuition’s drone program, you will design the airframes, structures, and mechanical systems that enable autonomous aircraft to fly. You will contribute across the full product design lifecycle, from concept and prototype through flight testing and production. The role involves designing lightweight, durable hardware, building and testing it, analyzing failures, and improving designs based on results.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field.
• At least 5 years of experience designing hardware and shipping products, ideally for drones, UAS, or aircraft.
• Hands-on experience designing flight vehicles or flight-critical structures, such as airframes, wings, fuselages, rotor arms, or landing gear.
• Strong understanding of aircraft weight, structures, aerodynamic loads, stability, and propulsion integration.
• Experience designing lightweight structures, including composites, carbon fiber, and aerospace-grade metals.
• Experience with design for manufacturing using methods such as CNC machining, composite layup, sheet metal, and additive manufacturing.
• Proficiency in CAD for 3D design and modification; SolidWorks is preferred.
• Hands-on prototyping and fabrication skills, with comfort building and testing real aircraft.

Nice To Haves

• Ability to support flight tests and field operations, including setting up devices under test, running test scripts from test engineers, and writing documentation for testing, maintenance, safety, and team processes.
• Experience designing, drawing, and prototyping custom cable harnesses.
• Demonstrated experience in FEA/CAE, including structural, thermal, vibration, and shock analysis.

Responsibilities

• Own mechanical design of drone platforms, including airframes, fuselages, wings or rotor arms, landing gear, and structural components.
• Balance weight, strength, aerodynamics, flight time, and payload capacity in aircraft designs.
• Integrate propulsion, batteries, avionics, and payloads into the airframe, including packaging, mounting, cooling, and cable routing.
• Perform structural, thermal, and vibration analysis, and use flight and test data to validate and improve designs.
• Build, assemble, and iterate on prototypes; support flight testing and field operations.
• Analyze failures and crashes, determine root causes, and incorporate findings into design improvements.
• Own design, analysis, and validation at the component, assembly, and fully integrated aircraft levels.
• Design for manufacturability, repairability, and field serviceability.
• Collaborate with autonomy, avionics, electrical, software, and flight test teams to meet mission requirements.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level