Lead Mechanical Engineer, Airframe
Job Description
About Poseidon Aerospace:
Poseidon Aerospace is reimagining how the world moves goods. We build and operate full-size autonomous cargo aircraft - capable of carrying two tons of payload over a thousand nautical miles. From remote communities to contested logistics operations, our platforms unlock a new cost curve for air freight, making it faster, cheaper, and accessible anywhere it's needed. Headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area with locations in Washington DC, Oregon, and Maine; we're building something consequential.
About the Role
The Lead Mechanical Engineer will own the structural and mechanical design of major aircraft assemblies from concept through flight testing.
This role is responsible for setting technical direction, leading design reviews, managing subsystem interfaces, and supporting other mechanical engineers. It is a hands-on engineering position that requires detailed involvement in CAD, analysis, manufacturing, assembly, and testing.
Responsibilities
Lead the design of primary aircraft structures, mechanisms, and major airframe assemblies
Develop composite and metallic structures, joints, interfaces, and mounting systems
Define structural load paths, design requirements, margins, and validation methods
Perform and review hand calculations and finite element analysis
Evaluate strength, stiffness, buckling, fatigue, vibration, and composite failure modes
Lead preliminary and critical design reviews
Own CAD assemblies, production drawings, bills of materials, tolerances, and design releases
Manage mechanical interfaces between the airframe, propulsion, avionics, flight controls, landing systems, and other subsystems
Design aircraft mechanisms, including control surfaces, doors, landing gear, actuation systems, and deployable systems
Work with manufacturing to develop tooling, assembly processes, inspection methods, and repair procedures
Plan and support component, structural, subsystem, and vehicle-level testing
Investigate failures, determine root causes, and implement corrective actions
Mentor mechanical engineers and review their design and analysis work
Support aircraft assembly, integration, ground testing, and flight testing
Required Qualifications
Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field
7 or more years of relevant mechanical, structural, or aerospace engineering experience
Experience designing primary aircraft structures or large composite airframes
Experience with bonded composite structures, sandwich panels, bonded inserts, and hybrid composite-metallic assemblies
Experience with aircraft mechanisms, actuation systems, control surfaces, doors, landing gear, or deployable systems
Knowledge of composite failure criteria, buckling, fatigue, vibration, modal analysis, or damage tolerance
Experience taking safety-critical hardware from concept through manufacturing and testing
Strong proficiency with CAD software such as Fusion, SolidWorks, CATIA, NX, or Creo
Strong proficiency with finite element analysis tools such as ANSYS, Nastran, Abaqus, Fusion Simulation, or similar
Ability to verify analysis using hand calculations and first-principles methods
Strong understanding of structural mechanics, load paths, joint design, material behavior, and mechanical failure modes
Experience applying GD&T and mechanical tolerancing to production drawings
Experience designing for manufacturing, assembly, inspection, maintenance, and repair
Experience leading technical reviews and making design decisions across multiple engineering teams
Comfortable working directly with aircraft hardware, prototypes, test fixtures, and shop tools
Preferred Qualifications
Experience designing structures for marine environments
Experience developing structural test plans, fixtures, instrumentation, and acceptance criteria
Familiarity with FAA certification, military airworthiness, or experimental flight-test programs
Proficiency with MATLAB or Python for engineering analysis
Experience with product lifecycle management and configuration control systems
Candidates who are not yet qualified for a Lead position may apply to our Mechanical Engineer openings.
What you get from us
Competitive salary and meaningful early-stage equity
Relocation support if applicable
Employee Health Benefit Plans
6% Retirement matching
Flexible PTO
Free lunches, snacks, and a stocked fridge at our offices
AI tools and subscriptions
