Senior Actuation Engineer

Skydweller US • Oklahoma City, OK

1d

About The Position

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

The role encompasses the design and design changes of complete electromechanical actuators, including motors, transmissions, output stages, sensing, motor control, housings, and interfaces. It also includes deriving and maintaining requirements, defining mechanical, electrical, and control interfaces, directing detailed design, managing subcontractors, working with customers, and planning and completing verification and installation procedures.

Applicants must meet U.S. export control eligibility requirements: they must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, lawful permanent resident, or a person granted asylum or refugee status. Applicants are asked to submit an English-language resume.

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 meet the stated U.S. person eligibility requirements for access to information subject to U.S. export control regulations (ITAR/EAR).

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 (HIL) 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.
• Polarion ALM; DOORS or similar requirements management tools are also welcome.
• Cameo Systems Modeler, Capella, SCADE Architect, Enterprise Architect, or similar model-based systems engineering tools.
• MATLAB / Simulink, CATIA V5, or Python.
• Jira or Confluence.

Responsibilities

• Act as responsible engineer for the company's actuation products and the aircraft's actuation capabilities.
• Own the design and design changes of complete electromechanical actuators, including motors, transmissions, output stages, sensing, motor control, housings, and interfaces, and address 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 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 each actuation subsystem, 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.
• Performance bonus opportunities.

What This Job Offers

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