Senior Actuation Engineer

Skydweller US • Oklahoma City, OK

4d

About The Position

Skydweller Aero Inc. is hiring a Senior Actuation Engineer to serve as the responsible engineer for its actuation products and for the actuation capabilities of its solar-powered unmanned aircraft. The engineer will own actuation systems from requirements and architecture through trade studies, design, supplier management, customer support, verification, and installation, whether an actuator is used independently or integrated into the aircraft. The role will maintain alignment of requirements, interfaces, and verification evidence across the product and aircraft. The position may be based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, or Spain.

The engineer will own the design and design changes of complete electromechanical actuators, including motors, transmissions, output stages, sensing, motor control, housings, and interfaces. The work includes requirements development and traceability, actuator architecture and aircraft interfaces, preliminary and detailed design, supplier and subcontractor oversight, customer engagement, verification planning and execution, and installation and checkout procedures.

Applicants must meet the stated U.S. person requirement because the position involves access to information subject to U.S. export control regulations (ITAR/EAR). The company requests an English-language resume and asks candidates to apply to one position only.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, Electrical, or Mechatronics Engineering, or a related field.
• At least 8 years of aerospace or defense experience designing, building, and testing motion control or actuation systems.
• Proven experience owning the design of electromechanical actuators or similar motion control products from requirements through verification.
• Hands-on testing experience supporting hardware verification for an aerospace system.
• Experience integrating software and hardware in flight-critical or safety-critical systems.
• Strong understanding of motors, motor controllers, drive mechanisms, and gearboxes.
• Experience managing suppliers or subcontractors and working directly with customers.
• Fluent written and spoken English.
• Must be a U.S. person: a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, lawful permanent resident, or person granted asylum or refugee status, due to U.S. export control requirements.

Nice To Haves

• Master's degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, Electrical, or Mechatronics Engineering.
• At least 10 years of experience in aerospace or defense actuation systems.
• Experience applying systems engineering to a hardware system, including requirements derivation and traceability, interface definition, and verification planning.
• Experience with model-based systems engineering on a complex system, including architecture, interfaces, and links from requirements to verification.
• Familiarity with ARP5754 for electromechanical actuation and ARP4754 for aircraft and system development.
• Experience with hardware-in-the-loop testing or a system integration laboratory in aerospace or another industry such as automotive, robotics, or medical.
• Experience designing verification test stations, including harnesses, special test equipment, rack design, bills of materials, and equipment procurement.
• Experience with analog and digital converters, power supply components, analog troubleshooting, signal integrity, layout, and grounding.
• Applied experience with hard real-time operating systems and embedded systems.
• Requirements management tools: Polarion ALM preferred; DOORS or similar tools welcome.
• Model-based systems engineering tools such as Cameo Systems Modeler, Capella, SCADE Architect, Enterprise Architect, or similar.
• Engineering tools: MATLAB/Simulink, CATIA V5, and Python.
• Collaboration tools: Jira and Confluence.

Responsibilities

• Act as responsible engineer for actuation products and the actuation capabilities of the aircraft.
• Own the design and design changes of complete electromechanical actuators, including motors, transmissions, output stages, sensing, motor control, housings, and interfaces, and manage resulting requirements, supplier, and verification impacts.
• Perform trade studies of electromechanical actuation approaches for actuators and the control surfaces they drive.
• Derive, allocate, and maintain the requirements baseline, including sizing and performance based on loads, rates, redundancy, environmental constraints, and concept of operations, with traceability to design and verification.
• Define actuator architecture and its mechanical, electrical, and control interfaces with the aircraft.
• Perform preliminary design to validate requirements and support make-or-buy decisions for actuators, motors, and motion control devices.
• Direct mechanical and electrical designers during detailed design of actuators and related hardware.
• Manage subcontractors from contracting through requirements, testing, and delivery.
• Work with actuation-product customers on requirements, interfaces, integration, and in-service support.
• Define and close verification for actuators and actuation subsystems, including acceptance tests and laboratory and aircraft testing.
• Create installation and checkout procedures for actuators as products and as installed on the aircraft.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage for full-time employees.
• Vacation, sick leave, and personal days.
• 401(k) retirement plan.
• Flexible working hours.
• Training, education, and tuition reimbursement opportunities.
• Full-time employees may be eligible for stock options after one year of service.
• Bonus opportunities based on individual and company performance.

What This Job Offers

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