Senior Staff Engineer - Conceptual Design, Advanced Programs
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), an affiliate of General Atomics, is a world leader in proven, reliable remotely piloted aircraft and tactical reconnaissance radars, as well as advanced high-resolution surveillance systems.
We have an exciting opportunity for a Sr. Aerodynamics Engineer in our rapidly growing Advanced Programs group, within the Flight Technologies department.
You will provide day-to-day support towards conceptual aerodynamic design and sizing of flight vehicles in an advanced design environment. Responsibilities include support of small to large programs in conceptual/preliminary design, development of aerodynamic models as configurations mature, wind tunnel test planning, execution, and data reduction, development of sizing tools as warranted, ground and flight test planning of prototype vehicles, analysis of flight data, support of project-based teams across multiple departments and programs, and capture and execution of R&D projects for both internal and external customers.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Execute conceptual aircraft sizing efforts using in-house developed tools
- Support trade studies and assess concept feasibility in a multi-disciplinary environment
- Lead aerodynamics efforts for one or more advanced design programs
- Support proposal efforts in a technical and budget estimation capacity
- Proactively communicate staffing needs to Flight Technologies supervisors and managers
- Document/report aircraft sizing best practices and studies
- Develop air vehicle requirements from an aerodynamics, aircraft performance, and stability and control perspective
- Be technical point of contact for any assigned wind tunnel test campaigns
- Develop aerodynamic databases for use in air vehicle performance and 6-DOF simulations
- Plan and support flight tests to verify and validate air vehicle flight performance
We recognize and appreciate the value and contributions of individuals with diverse backgrounds and experiences and welcome all qualified individuals to apply.
Qualifications
- Typically requires a Bachelors, Masters or PhD in engineering or a related technical field, as well as 4 or more years of progressively complex engineering experience with a BS degree, 2 years with MS degree. May substitute equivalent experience in lieu of education.
- Thrive in an environment with minimal direction and supervision, proactively solve problems, and collaborate effectively on small multi-disciplinary teams
- Keen ability to identify the right aerodynamic analysis fidelity and the right time to support fast-paced aircraft development schedules while ensuring technical integrity in the design
- Communicate effectively to technical teams, upper management, and external customers
- Must possess the ability to understand new concepts quickly and apply them accurately throughout an evolving environment.
- Competent in a variety of aerodynamic analysis techniques including hand calculations, airfoil analysis methods, vortex lattice methods, panel methods, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
- Experience synthesizing stability and control requirements into control effector sizing
- Experience creating aerodynamic databases for use in 6-DOF simulation environments and aircraft performance predictions
- Experience with aircraft performance predictions and mission analysis
- Collaborate effectively with CFD analysis engineers working knowledge of best practices for meshing, solver selection, flow visualization, and force/moment post-processing
- Experience leading or supporting wind tunnel campaigns: pre-test planning, run schedule management, data reduction and visualization, post-test reporting
- Experience overseeing wind tunnel model and wind tunnel facility subcontractors
- Significant experience writing tools in Matlab
- Experience with developing surrogate models using either Matlab, JMP, Python
- Must have the ability to organize, schedule, and coordinate work phases; and, determine the appropriate approach at the task level or, with assistance, at the project level to provide solutions to a range of complex problems.
- Must have strong communication, computer, documentation, presentation, and interpersonal skills.
- Must be able to attain US government security clearance.