Flight Sciences Engineer at Elroy Air in Byron, CA

At Elroy Air, we build autonomous vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) cargo aircraft systems to change the way the world moves goods. Transporting cargo by air is faster and more direct than by land or sea, but before recent technological and regulatory developments, it was prohibitively expensive. We've set out to expand middle-mile logistics possibilities across multiple sectors, with our sights on a $420Bn global total addressable market for cargo logistics across defense, commercial and rapid response.

The commercial express shipping industry needs faster, better solutions - and our armed forces are increasingly prioritizing new unmanned aerial cargo delivery systems.

These partners and customers are already responding enthusiastically to the system we've built. As we mature and deploy these systems, we are looking for people like you: motivated collaborators, excited by our mission and by the rare opportunity to improve how logistics works around the world. You will play an important role in establishing the Elroy Air Chaparral as the industry standard in this massive market.

We believe diverse perspectives at all levels of the organization are critical to innovation and employee development. This includes but is not limited to gender identity, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender expression, religion, age, ability, parenthood status, veteran status, educational background, citizenship status, or any combination of these characteristics.

As a Flight Sciences Engineer at Elroy Air, you will own performance analysis, flight dynamics, and configuration trades across our hybrid-electric lift+cruise VTOL program. You will be the analytical backbone of the vehicle team — reasoning across hover, transition, and cruise regimes, and working directly with propulsion, structures, and controls engineers to drive decisions from early concept through certification.

What you’ll own:

• Own vehicle performance modeling across hover, transition, and cruise: mission analysis, hybrid-electric energy management, climb optimization, and range/endurance trades
• Build and maintain 6-DOF flight dynamics models for a lift+cruise configuration: aero database construction through the transition corridor, rotor-wing interaction modeling, stability derivatives, and trim analysis in hover, transition, and cruise
• Contribute to vehicle design trades: feed flight sciences insight into OML shaping, drag reduction, control surface sizing, and flight controls architecture to close performance and handling qualities requirements
• Derive external flight loads across the operational envelope and collaborate with the structures team to define limit and ultimate load cases, support fatigue analysis, and feed aeroelastic models
• Support flight test planning, instrumentation requirements, and post-flight data reduction and analysis; correlate measured performance against analytical predictions
• Build and improve simulation environments used for envelope expansion, handling qualities assessment, and controls development
• Partner with propulsion and power teams to integrate hybrid-electric powertrain models into mission analysis; define power-required envelopes and binding constraints across the flight profile
• Contribute to certification planning by authoring compliance analyses, performance substantiation reports, and supporting V&V documentation

Our Ideal Candidate

• B.S. or M.S. in Aerospace Engineering or a closely related field
• 5+ years of meaningful hands-on experience in flight sciences, vehicle performance, or flight dynamics
• Proficiency in vehicle performance modeling: energy-based methods, point-mass and full 6-DOF simulation, power-required/available analysis
• Experience building or working with aerodynamic databases and stability derivative sets for flight simulation or loads analysis
• Familiarity with flight test methods: test card development, FTI requirements, data reduction, and prediction-to-flight correlation
• Strong programming skills in Python and/or MATLAB for analysis, post-processing, and tool development
• Solid understanding of fixed-wing, rotary-wing, or hybrid lift+cruise vehicle aeromechanics
• Working proficiency with aerodynamic analysis tools across fidelity levels — from low-order methods (panel codes, blade element, XFOIL) through mid-fidelity (RANS CFD): sufficient to set up runs, interpret results, and interface with dedicated CFD engineers
• Clear technical communication skills: able to distill complex analysis into concise summaries for engineering and program leadership

Bonus Points For:

• Direct experience with eVTOL, tiltrotor, or lift+cruise configurations — including transition corridor analysis, transition schedule definition, and rotor-wing aerodynamic interaction
  • Background in hybrid-electric propulsion performance modeling: energy management strategy, battery sizing trades, and BSFC/TSFC integration into mission analysis
  • Experience designing internal flows, including ducting, intakes, and cooling flows
  • Rotor and/or propeller design experience
  • Handling qualities assessment experience using ADS-33 or FAA/EASA equivalents
  • Exposure to flight simulation environments: JSBSim, Simulink/FlightGear, or equivalent
  • Experience with certification under FAA Part 23, Part 27, or EASA SC-VTOL frameworks
  • Background in aeroelastics or structural loads as they relate to flight envelope definition

We encourage you to apply even if you aren't an exact match for our open role as many of our team members come from nontraditional backgrounds.

All employees will be screened through E-Verify.

This position will require access to information protected under U.S. export control laws and regulations, including Export Administration Regulations (EAR). Please note that any offer for employment will be conditioned on any required authorization to receive software or technology controlled under these U.S. export control laws and regulations necessary to perform the responsibilities of the position.

Elroy Air does not engage with external recruiting agencies/individual recruiters that we do not have a written agreement with and all employment activities are managed through our internal team. We reserve the right to make use of any unsolicited resumes received without being responsible for payment of any fees asserted from the use of unsolicited resumes.