Staff Engineer – Actuated Systems for UAV Fighter Aircraft

About the role

As a Staff (L4) Actuated Systems Engineer you will own the mechanical design, layout, and integration of actuation systems for flight‑control surfaces, bay doors and other airframe mechanisms on a Group 5 UAV fighter aircraft. The role blends first‑principles engineering, rapid decision‑making and hands‑on development to move concepts into operational capability for defense missions.

Key responsibilities

• Develop and mature system layouts and installation concepts for actuators, mechanisms, linkages, brackets and mounting provisions within vehicle packaging constraints.
• Own detailed CAD design from concept through drawing release, including load paths, material selection, GD&T and tolerance stack‑ups.
• Perform actuator sizing, kinematic layout and installation analysis for flight‑control surfaces and bay doors.
• Conduct hand calculations and basic FEA to validate brackets, mounts and mechanical hardware.
• Define and resolve interfaces with structures, EWIS, EPS, thermal management and adjacent systems.
• Support component selection, supplier execution, prototype assembly and mechanical test‑fixture development.

Required profile

• U.S. citizen with an active Secret clearance or higher.
• 7–12 years of mechanical systems design experience in aerospace or a comparable regulated industry.
• B.S. or M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering or a related discipline.
• Deep mastery of mechanical design, kinematics, load paths, materials selection, GD&T and tolerance analysis.
• Proven ability to perform hand calculations and basic FEA for mechanisms and structural installations.
• Extensive experience with 3D CAD (Siemens NX, CATIA, Creo) and PLM workflows.

Required skills

• Mechanical design and kinematics
• GD&T and tolerance stack‑up analysis
• Hand calculations and basic finite element analysis (FEA)
• 3D CAD modeling (Siemens NX, CATIA, Creo)
• Actuator sizing and mechanism integration
• MIL‑STD‑810 and MIL‑HDBK‑516 compliance
• COTS component sourcing and supplier technical execution
• Prototype assembly and test‑fixture development