Mechanical Engineer - Airframes & Mechanisms

Role summary

Mechanical Engineer - Airframes & Mechanisms is a role at Askari Defense in Atlanta, Georgia, United States (on-site). Posted 2026-08-29. Experience level: 5-10.

Job title

Mechanical Engineer - Airframes & Mechanisms

Company

Askari Defense

Location

Atlanta, Georgia, United States

Work arrangement

on-site

Category

Trades & Construction

Experience level

5-10

Date posted

2026-08-29

Job description

About the role

As a Mechanical Engineer for Airframes and Mechanisms , you will own the mechanical architecture, design, build, and flight validation of new airframes and mechanical systems for our high-performance UAS intercept platforms.

You will turn evolving mission requirements and vehicle concepts into real hardware: compact mechanisms, structural load paths, subsystem packaging, mechanical interfaces, fixtures, and manufacturable airframes that survive field handling, vibration, launch, flight loads, and repeated iteration.

This role is for an incredibly first-principles engineer who is equal parts mechanisms designer and hands-on builder. You move quickly across the full loop, from trade study to design, build, test, and validation, and you upgrade your first-principles models the moment the data demands more fidelity.

You make hard structural and packaging trades, create elegant solutions under severe constraints, and personally build and test the hardware. You thrive in early ambiguity, cutting through the noise to find the few constraints that actually matter, and you prioritize physical reality over opinion .

Above all, you have a track record of novel mechanical system design . You have personally taken complex physical systems from concept through CAD, prototyping, test, failure analysis, and real-world validation. Ideally, you spend your free time building drones, airplanes, robots, mechanisms, or strange machines because you cannot help yourself.

Passion coupled with engineering mastery are the two most important things we are looking for.

You will spearhead airframe and mechanisms development, working with the aerodynamics, rotorcraft, GNC, perception, electrical, and manufacturing teams to integrate their subsystems into coherent, rugged, flight-proven vehicles.

Portfolio Strongly Encouraged: We strongly favor candidates who can show a portfolio of personally executed mechanical design and build work. Show us what you have designed, built, tested, broken, and improved (CAD, mechanisms, prototypes, airframes, robots, personal projects, test hardware, or other complex physical systems).

What you'll do

You will own mechanical architecture for new airframes and vehicle configurations, from clean-sheet layout and first-principles trades through CAD, prototyping, bench test, flight test, and iteration. You will work across the aerodynamics, rotorcraft, GNC, perception, electrical, and manufacturing teams, but the mechanical architecture, airframe structures, mechanisms, and packaging trades are yours to drive.

You will focus on problems in all of the following areas:

Airframe & Mechanical Architecture: Own mechanical architecture for new airframes and vehicle configurations, from clean-sheet layout and first-principles trades through CAD, prototyping, bench test, flight test, and iteration.

Mechanisms Design: Design compact, rugged airframe structures and mechanisms, including linkages, hinges, latches, retention features, printed flexures, and deployables , that survive real handling, transport, vibration, launch, and flight loads.

Subsystem Packaging: Package motors, propellers, batteries, avionics, sensors, wiring, compute, and thermal paths under aggressive size, weight, and performance constraints.

Structural Analysis & Failure Modes: Perform FEA , hand calculations, load-path development, tolerance stackups, and failure-mode analysis to ensure hardware survives real-world loads.

CAD, Fixtures & Test Articles: Produce high-quality CAD, drawings, mechanisms, fixtures, and test articles that can be rapidly manufactured, assembled, inspected, and iterated.

Manufacturable Hardware Design: Translate mechanical and performance targets into manufacturable hardware, accounting for materials, fabrication methods, assembly sequence, and scale-up.

Rapid Prototyping & Test: Prototype quickly, test aggressively, break hardware, diagnose failures, and turn real data into the next design revision.

Subsystem Integration: Integrate subsystems from the aerodynamics, rotorcraft, GNC, perception, electrical, and manufacturing teams into robust, serviceable vehicles.

Basic Qualifications

Complex Mechanical System Ownership: You have personally brought a complex mechanical system from concept through design, CAD, prototyping, test, failure analysis, and real-world validation. This is non-negotiable.

First-Principles Execution: You are an incredibly first-principles engineer who moves fast: you drive rapidly from trade study to design, build, test, and validation, simplify problems to the few constraints that actually matter, and upgrade your first-principles models as the system becomes better understood.

Experience: 6+ years of professional or equivalent hands-on experience in mechanical, mechanism, airframe, robotics, or aerospace hardware design, including serious hobbyist and personal-build experience, which we weight heavily.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Robotics, or a related engineering discipline, or equivalent demonstrated ability.

Mechanisms: Strong experience designing mechanisms, linkages, joints, hinges, latches, flexures, and compact moving assemblies under real-world constraints.

CAD: Strong proficiency in 3D CAD for complex mechanical assemblies, including Fusion 360, Siemens NX, CATIA, Onshape, SolidWorks, or similar tools.

FEA & Structural Analysis: Strong proficiency in FEA and first-principles structural analysis , including load paths, stress, vibration, shock, stiffness, buckling, fatigue, and failure modes, using Ansys, Abaqus, Nastran, Fusion Simulation, or similar tools.

Design for Fabrication & Scale: Experience designing hardware for rapid fabrication and eventual scale, including additive manufacturing, CNC m