Air Vehicle Design Engineer - Configuration & OML

The Role

Mach Industries is seeking an Air Vehicle Design Engineer to shape and integrate next-generation unmanned aircraft and missile systems. You will turn mission requirements into viable vehicle configurations, own the outer mold line (OML), and create the parametric geometry that carries each concept from an initial layout toward manufacturable hardware and flight test.

This role sits at the intersection of conceptual aircraft design and advanced CAD. You will perform first-order sizing, develop and compare configuration concepts, define vehicle shape and internal arrangement, and build robust CAD models that evolve as requirements and discipline inputs change. The geometry you create will be used by Aerodynamics, Propulsion, Structures, GNC, Manufacturing, and Flight Test, and you will work directly with those teams to mature it.

This role is part of Conceptual Design within Mach's Vehicle Design and Performance organization, alongside MDAO and Operational Performance. Conceptual Design creates, MDAO enables, and Operational Performance assesses. You will remain involved as your configurations move through preliminary design, fabrication, and test, using what the team learns to improve both the current vehicle and the next one.

The ideal candidate combines strong geometric intuition, fluency in parametric CAD, and broad aerospace fundamentals. You can reason from an incomplete set of requirements, make practical configuration decisions across disciplines, and structure geometry so it can change without starting over. You care not only about whether a concept can fly, but also whether it can be integrated, built, and ultimately produced at rate.

Key Responsibilities

This is a conceptual design and vehicle configuration role with a strong CAD emphasis. CAD is the primary engineering medium, but the work begins before the geometry is defined: you will use mission requirements, first-order sizing, and multidisciplinary trades to determine what to model. This is not a mechanical design role centered on detailed parts, mechanisms, structural analysis, or production drawings. Your focus is the integrated vehicle configuration, its OML, and the parametric geometry that connects concept development to downstream engineering.

• Translate mission and system requirements into feasible aircraft and missile configurations through first-order sizing, layout development, and architecture studies.
• Define, loft, and maintain vehicle OML geometry, including planforms, bodies, noses, control surfaces, inlets, aerodynamic fairings, and propulsion and payload integration.
• Build robust parametric CAD models for OML, internal packaging, subsystem interfaces, and major assemblies that can accommodate changing requirements and configuration trades.
• Develop integrated vehicle layouts that balance aerodynamic performance, weight, packaging, manufacturability, modularity, and subsystem needs.
• Provide configuration geometry and interface definitions to discipline teams, then incorporate analysis results, packaging constraints, and manufacturing feedback into the evolving design.
• Partner with Aerodynamics, Propulsion, Structures, GNC, Manufacturing, and Flight Test to resolve cross-disciplinary issues and keep configurations viable.
• Support prototype fabrication, vehicle integration, and design changes as configurations move into hardware.
• Present configuration alternatives, trade studies, and technical recommendations to engineering leadership and program stakeholders.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
• 2+ years of professional experience in aircraft, missile, or unmanned vehicle design.
• Experience with conceptual or preliminary vehicle design, including first-order sizing, configuration development, layout, or multidisciplinary trade studies.
• Hands-on experience defining and maintaining vehicle OML geometry, including lofting and surfacing aerodynamic shapes.
• Proficiency in NX, CATIA, Creo, or equivalent CAD software, including parametric modeling and model architectures that support rapid configuration changes.
• Demonstrated ability to translate requirements and engineering constraints into vehicle geometry.
• Working knowledge of aerospace vehicle packaging and the interactions among aerodynamics, propulsion, structures, controls, manufacturing, and mission performance.
• Ability to communicate design rationale, assumptions, and tradeoffs clearly across multidisciplinary teams.

Preferred Qualifications 

• Experience using parametric or computational geometry in MDAO, vehicle sizing, optimization, or design-space exploration.
• Experience using scripts, APIs, or computational design platforms such as nTop to generate, modify, or exchange geometry.
• Experience with Class A surfacing or advanced CAD surfacing techniques.
• Experience developing advanced vehicle concepts for high-altitude, high-speed, low-observable, or similarly demanding applications.
• Experience managing large CAD assemblies and configuration control in a multi-engineer environment.
• Experience carrying vehicle geometry into downstream engineering analysis, prototyping, manufacturing, vehicle integration, or flight-test workflows.

The person in this role helps determine what Mach's vehicles become. You will own geometry that begins with a mission need, changes as engineering teams close the design, and ultimately becomes hardware you can see built and flown.

Additional Requirements

Engineer 115000 - 150000 USD
Senior Engineer 155000 - 195000 USD