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Applied Intuition is a $15B-valued Silicon Valley company (founded 2017) powering physical AI for autonomous systems across automotive, defense, trucking, construction, mining, and agriculture. The company serves 18 of the top 20 global automakers and the US military with digital infrastructure, operating systems, and autonomy solutions.
As a Mechanical Engineer on the drone program, you will own the mechanical design of uncrewed aircraft platforms from concept through production. Your responsibilities include:
- Design and optimize airframe, fuselage, wings, rotor arms, landing gear, and structural components
- Make critical tradeoffs between weight, strength, aerodynamics, flight time, and payload capacity
- Integrate propulsion, batteries, avionics, and payloads into the airframe (packaging, mounting, cooling, cable routing)
- Perform structural, thermal, and vibration analysis; validate designs using flight and test data
- Prototype rapidly: build, assemble, iterate on hardware, and support flight testing and field operations
- Conduct failure analysis on crashes and incidents; drive root-cause investigations and design improvements
- Own design, analysis, and validation at component, assembly, and fully integrated aircraft levels
- Design for manufacturability, repairability, and field serviceability
- Collaborate cross-functionally with autonomy, avionics, electrical, software, and flight test teams
The role is in-office at Sunnyvale headquarters (5 days/week expected), with occasional flexibility for remote work or schedule adjustments.
REQUIREMENTS:
- BS or MS in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related field
- 5+ years of experience designing hardware and shipping products, ideally for drones, UAS, or aircraft
- Hands-on experience designing flight vehicles or flight-critical structures (airframes, wings, fuselages, rotor arms, landing gear)
- Strong understanding of aircraft fundamentals: weight, structures, aerodynamic loads, stability, propulsion integration
- Experience designing lightweight structures (composites, carbon fiber, aerospace-grade metals)
- Experience with design for manufacturing (CNC machining, composite layup, sheet metal, additive manufacturing)
- Proficiency in CAD, SolidWorks preferred, for 3D design and modification
- Hands-on prototyping and fabrication skills; comfort building and testing real aircraft
NICE TO HAVE:
- Ability to support flight test and field operations (device setup, test scripts, documentation)
- Experience designing and prototyping custom cable harnesses
- FEA/CAE experience (structural, thermal, vibration, shock analysis)
