Senior Manager, Mechanical Engineering Drone

Applied Intuition Inc. is powering the future of physical AI. Founded in 2017 and now valued at $15 billion the Silicon Valley company is creating the digital infrastructure needed to bring intelligence to every moving machine on the planet. Applied Intuition services the automotive defense trucking construction mining and agriculture industries in three core areas: tools and infrastructure operating systems and autonomy. Eighteen of the top 20 global automakers as well as the United States military and its allies trust the companys solutions to deliver physical intelligence. Applied Intuition is headquartered in Sunnyvale California with offices in Washington D.C.; San Diego; Ft. Walton Beach Florida; Ann Arbor Michigan; London; Stuttgart; Munich; Stockholm; Bangalore; Seoul; and Tokyo. Learn more at .

We are an in-office company and our expectation is that full-time employees primarily work from their Applied Intuition office 5 days a week. However we also recognize the importance of flexibility and trust our employees to manage their schedules responsibly. This may include occasional remote work starting the day with morning meetings from home before heading to the office or leaving earlier when needed to accommodate family commitments. This in-office expectation does not apply to contractor positions

About the role

As the senior Mechanical Engineering Manager Drone you will lead and grow the team responsible for the mechanical design of our drone platforms from airframe and structures through full aircraft integration. You will own the mechanical engineering roadmap for our uncrewed aircraft hire and develop a team of mechanical engineers and work hands-on with your team through the full product design lifecycle from concept and prototype through flight test and production.

At Applied Intuition you will:

• Build and lead a team of mechanical engineers responsible for the airframe fuselage wings or rotor arms landing gear and structural components of our drone platforms

• Set technical direction on the tradeoffs between weight strength aerodynamics flight time and payload capacity that determine whether an aircraft flies well

• Guide your teams integration of propulsion batteries avionics and payloads into the airframe including packaging mounting cooling and cable routing

• Oversee structural thermal and vibration analysis across the team and use flight and test data to validate and improve designs

• Drive a culture of rapid prototyping: build assemble and iterate on real hardware and support flight testing and field operations alongside your team

• Lead failure and crash investigations drive root cause analysis and turn lessons into design improvements across the team

• Own design analysis and validation quality at the component assembly and fully integrated aircraft level

• Champion design for manufacturability repairability and field serviceability across your teams work

• Hire mentor and grow mechanical engineers and manage their performance and career development

• Partner cross-functionally with autonomy avionics electrical software and flight test leaders to ensure designs meet mission requirements

Were looking for someone who has:

• BS/MS in Mechanical Engineering Aerospace Engineering or a related field

• 12 years of experience designing hardware and shipping products ideally for drones UAS or aircraft

• 7 years of experience leading and managing mechanical engineering teams

• Hands-on experience designing flight vehicles or flight-critical structures such as airframes wings fuselages rotor arms or landing gear

• Strong understanding of what makes an aircraft fly: weight structures aerodynamic loads stability and propulsion integration

• Experience designing lightweight structures including composites carbon fiber and aerospace-grade metals

• Experience with design for manufacturing across methods such as CNC machining composite layup sheet metal and additive manufacturing

• Proficiency in CAD SolidWorks preferred for 3D design and modification

• Track record of hiring developing and retaining strong engineering talent

Nice to have:

• Experience supporting flight test and field operations including setting up devices under test and writing clear documentation for test maintenance safety and team processes

• Experience designing drawing and prototyping custom cable harnesses

• Demonstrated experience in FEA/CAE (structural thermal vibration and shock)

• Hands-on experience shipping high-complexity hardware in both early-stage startup (0 to 1) and mass-production environments

Dont meet every single requirement If youre excited about this role but your past experience doesnt align perfectly with every qualification in the job description we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Applied Intuition is an equal opportunity employer and federal contractor or subcontractor. Consequently the parties agree that as applicable they will abide by the requirements of 41 CFR 60-1.4(a) 41 CFR 60-300.5(a) and 41 CFR 60-741.5(a) and that these laws are incorporated herein by reference. These regulations prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals based on their status as protected veterans or individuals with disabilities and prohibit discrimination against all individuals based on their race color religion sex sexual orientation gender identity or national origin. These regulations require that covered prime contractors and subcontractors take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment individuals without regard to race color religion sex sexual orientation gender identity national origin protected veteran status or disability. The parties also agree that as applicable they will abide by the requirements of Executive Order 13496 (29 CFR Part 471 Appendix A to Subpart A) relating to the notice of employee rights under federal labor laws.

FOR US-BASED ROLES: Applied Intuition is committed to providing an accessible and inclusive application and interview experience to applicants who are disabled veterans and other applicants with disabilities or medical conditions. Reasonable accommodations are available requesting an accommodation will not affect your candidacy in any way and you are not required to disclose the nature of your disability or medical condition in order to make a request. If you require an accommodation please contact . We will work with you!

Required Experience:

Senior Manager