Staff Engineer, Aerostructures Loads - Ranger (R6352)

Job Description:

Shield AI is seeking a Staff Aerostructures Loads Engineer to define, analyze, and validate the loads environments that drive structural design for Project Ranger. This role will develop critical vehicle and component loads analyses across flight, ground, transport, handling, and test conditions, enabling safe, efficient, and flight ready structural designs.

The ideal candidate brings strong aircraft loads fundamentals, sound engineering judgment, and practical experience applying analytical results to structural design, test, and certification activities. This engineer will work closely with structures, flight sciences, systems engineering, aerodynamics, flight controls, propulsion, manufacturing, and flight test teams to ensure the airframe is designed, validated, and operated within defined structural limits.

What you'll do:

• Develop air vehicle and component level loads analyses for primary and secondary structures.
• Create and maintain loads models, free body diagrams, load paths, load cases, design envelopes, and critical load conditions that inform structural sizing, design decisions, and verification planning.
• Partner with Aerodynamics, Flight Controls, Mass Properties, Propulsion, and Systems Engineering to define external loads, inertial loads, aerodynamic loads, actuator loads, interface loads, and vehicle operating conditions.
• Deliver clear loads documentation, including design load reports, interface control loads, critical condition summaries, assumptions, margins, and recommendations for use by structures, test, and certification stakeholders.
• Support ground and flight test planning, instrumentation definition, correlation activities, structural test execution, and post test data analysis to validate models and refine structural loads predictions.

Required qualifications:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• 8 or more years of experience performing air vehicle, rotorcraft, uncrewed aircraft, launch vehicle, automotive, or other complex vehicle loads analysis.
• Demonstrated experience developing loads models and performing static, dynamic, maneuver, gust, landing, ground, handling, transport, or test loads analyses for vehicle structures.
• Strong understanding of structural mechanics, aircraft dynamics, aerodynamics, inertia relief, load paths, free body diagrams, structural sizing inputs, and finite element model interface loads.
• Proficiency with MATLAB, Python, Nastran, Patran, FEMAP, HyperMesh, or comparable loads analysis, data analysis, and finite element tools.

Preferred qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering with emphasis in structural dynamics, aeroelasticity, aircraft loads, flight mechanics, or a related field.
• Experience supporting uncrewed aircraft, fixed wing aircraft, rotorcraft, defense, space, or other aerospace vehicle development programs.
• Experience developing or correlating loads models using flight test, ground test, structural test, strain gauge, pressure, acceleration, or other instrumentation data.
• Familiarity with aeroelasticity, flutter, dynamic response, vibration, fatigue, durability, damage tolerance, or nonlinear structural analysis methods.
• Experience working in multidisciplinary product development environments with structural design, stress analysis, flight sciences, manufacturing, systems engineering, and flight test teams.