Senior Manager Mechanical Engineering Drone
Applied Intuition is a physical-AI company that provides software platforms for developing, validating, deploying, and operating intelligent vehicles and machines.
About Applied Intuition
Founded in 2017, Applied Intuition builds physical-AI tooling and infrastructure, a Vehicle OS, and a Self-Driving System for automotive, defense, trucking, construction, mining, agriculture, and robotics applications.
Skills
Candidate Availability
Required and preferred rules are kept separate and reflect the wording in the original posting.
About the Role
You will lead mechanical engineering for drone platforms from airframe design through aircraft integration, flight testing, and production. You will set the engineering roadmap, manage engineers, validate designs, lead investigations, and coordinate with technical partners to deliver robust aircraft.
Requirements
- BS/MS in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field
- 12+ years of hardware-design and product-shipping experience
- 7+ years leading and managing mechanical engineering teams
- Experience designing flight vehicles or flight-critical structures
- Understanding of aircraft weight, structures, aerodynamic loads, stability, and propulsion integration
- Experience designing lightweight structures with composites, carbon fiber, and aerospace-grade metals
- Experience with CNC machining, composite layup, sheet metal, and additive manufacturing
- Proficiency in CAD
- Track record of hiring, developing, and retaining engineering talent
Responsibilities
- Build and lead the mechanical engineering team for drone airframes and structural components
- Set technical direction for weight, strength, aerodynamics, flight time, and payload tradeoffs
- Guide integration of propulsion, batteries, avionics, and payloads into the airframe
- Oversee structural, thermal, and vibration analysis and validate designs with test data
- Drive rapid prototyping, hardware assembly, iteration, and flight-test support
- Lead failure and crash investigations and drive root-cause design improvements
- Own mechanical design, analysis, and validation quality
- Champion manufacturability, repairability, and field serviceability
- Hire, mentor, develop, and manage mechanical engineers
- Partner with autonomy, avionics, electrical, software, and flight-test leaders
Benefits
- Equity