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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Aeronautical Engineer

💰 $ - $

AerospaceEngineeringAviationManufacturingResearch & Development

🎯 Role Definition

The Aeronautical Engineer designs, analyzes, tests and certifies aircraft structures, systems and components across the aerospace product lifecycle. This role combines applied aerodynamics, structural and systems engineering, simulation, prototyping and flight-test support to ensure safe, efficient and regulatory-compliant aircraft and subsystems. The ideal candidate brings hands-on experience with CAD and simulation tools (CATIA, NX, ANSYS, NASTRAN, MATLAB/Simulink), knowledge of certification frameworks (FAA/EASA/TC), strong problem-solving and communication skills, and a track record of delivering technical solutions on schedule and within weight/cost targets.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Junior Aeronautical/Mechanical Engineer
  • Aerospace Technician or Flight Test Technician
  • Recent graduate in Aerospace Engineering with internship experience

Advancement To:

  • Senior Aeronautical Engineer / Lead Engineer
  • Principal Engineer or Technical Fellow
  • Systems Engineering Manager or Program Engineering Manager

Lateral Moves:

  • Structures Engineer (Composites/Metals specialist)
  • Aerodynamics/CFD Engineer
  • Flight Test Engineer

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Lead the conceptual and detailed design of aircraft structures, control surfaces, and primary/secondary airframe components using CAD (CATIA V5/3DEXPERIENCE, Siemens NX) and ensure designs meet strength, stiffness, fatigue and buckling requirements for certification.
  • Develop and execute finite element analysis (FEA) models to assess stress, modal, thermal and buckling behavior of airframe components using tools such as ANSYS, NASTRAN and HyperMesh, and interpret results to recommend design changes.
  • Perform aerodynamics analyses including inviscid and viscous CFD, boundary-layer assessment and performance prediction using commercial CFD packages and in-house codes to optimize wing, nacelle and control surface designs for lift, drag and stability.
  • Define and lead structural test programs (static, fatigue, ultimate load, damage tolerance) including test plan development, test rig specification, instrumentation selection, data acquisition and post-test reporting to support certification requirements.
  • Prepare and maintain certification artifacts and compliance data packages for FAA/EASA/TC airworthiness regulations, including compliance matrices, substantiation reports, AC/AMM updates and interface with certification authorities on technical issues.
  • Manage weight and mass properties programs: develop weight estimates, perform weight growth tracking, define center-of-gravity (CG) control strategies and collaborate with suppliers to meet aircraft weight targets.
  • Perform system integration and interface definition for airframe and avionics systems, coordinate mechanical, electrical and hydraulic interfaces, and ensure compatibility with cabin, flight controls and propulsion systems.
  • Develop and apply damage-tolerance, fracture mechanics and corrosion assessment methods, prepare inspection intervals and maintenance recommendations consistent with continuing airworthiness and structural integrity programs.
  • Lead root-cause investigations for in-service failures or anomalies, perform structural hotspot analysis, produce corrective actions, engineering change requests (ECRs) and implement design revisions with manufacturing and quality teams.
  • Support manufacturing readiness by creating producible designs, writing producibility guidelines, participating in DFMEA, tooling design reviews, process control plans and supplier capability assessments for composites and metallic structures.
  • Create and maintain detailed technical drawings, BOMs and engineering documentation according to company standards and engineering change control processes, ensuring traceability of design decisions and configuration management.
  • Develop and validate flight-performance models, stability and control analyses and contribute to handling qualities assessments; support flight test campaigns by defining test points, telemetry and instrumentation needs.
  • Conduct liaison with suppliers and subcontractors for structural components, evaluate supplier technical proposals, review supplier FEA and test data, and oversee supplier corrective actions when necessary.
  • Apply multidisciplinary optimization (MDO) techniques to achieve trade-offs between aerodynamics, structures, propulsion and systems to minimize weight and cost while meeting performance and safety targets.
  • Prepare technical specifications and proposals for new development projects, lead engineering work packages, estimate engineering effort and contribute to program scheduling and risk management activities.
  • Implement and enforce engineering standards, CAD/CAE best practices, and verification/validation strategies to reduce rework and accelerate time-to-market for aircraft modifications and new builds.
  • Support avionics/mechanical system installations including routing, mounting, thermal management and EMI/EMC considerations to ensure safe integration and maintainability of aircraft systems.
  • Mentor junior engineers and interns, provide technical guidance on simulation modeling, testing methodologies and engineering judgment, and lead design reviews, peer reviews and cross-functional engineering meetings.
  • Coordinate and support flight test operations: accompany flight test teams, analyze telemetry, correlate ground and flight test data with predictions and produce flight test reports that drive certification closure.
  • Maintain up-to-date knowledge of industry regulations, emerging materials (advanced composites, additive manufacturing), manufacturing technologies and best practices to recommend technical improvements and innovation adoption.
  • Participate in cost-reduction and performance-improvement initiatives by identifying design simplifications, material substitutions and process optimizations that reduce unit cost and improve manufacturability.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc engineering analyses, feasibility studies and trade studies for new product introductions and aircraft modifications.
  • Contribute to internal technical audits, continuous improvement projects and lessons learned sessions to improve engineering processes and product reliability.
  • Assist program managers by providing technical input to schedules, risk registers, and status reports, and escalate critical design issues that impact deliverables.
  • Collaborate with quality, production and certification teams to respond to Non-Conformances, customer technical queries and airworthiness directives.
  • Provide subject-matter expertise during supplier selection, qualification and onsite inspections to ensure component integrity and compliance with specifications.
  • Maintain engineering databases, document repositories and digital twin artifacts to ensure accurate baseline configuration and retrievability for sustainment engineering.
  • Support aftermarket activities including technical support for fielded fleets, service bulletin evaluation, repair techniques and training of maintenance personnel.
  • Participate in cross-functional agile/scrum ceremonies where applicable to align engineering deliverables with program sprints and iterative development cycles.
  • Provide input to maintenance planning and reliability centered maintenance (RCM) efforts by supplying design intent and failure mode insights.
  • Help develop proposals and bids by estimating technical effort, creating statements of work and producing technical content for customer-facing documentation.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Aircraft structural design and analysis — experience with metallic and composite airframe design, load paths, and fatigue/damage tolerance methodologies.
  • Finite Element Analysis (FEA) — proficiency with NASTRAN, ANSYS, Abaqus or equivalent for linear/non-linear static, modal and buckling analyses.
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) — experience using tools such as ANSYS Fluent, STAR-CCM+ or OpenFOAM for aerodynamic performance and flow-field studies.
  • CAD and product modeling — advanced skills in CATIA V5/3DEXPERIENCE, Siemens NX or SolidWorks for detailed part and assembly modeling.
  • MATLAB/Simulink — for data analysis, control system modeling, flight dynamics simulation and scripting automated verification tasks.
  • Structural testing and instrumentation — knowledge of static, fatigue, strain gauge instrumentation, accelerometers and data acquisition systems.
  • Certification and regulatory compliance — working knowledge of FAA/EASA/Transport Canada airworthiness regulations and certification processes.
  • Materials and manufacturing processes — understanding of composites fabrication, autoclave processes, metallic joining, bonding, and NDT methods (ultrasonic, eddy current).
  • Systems engineering & integration — ability to create interface control documents (ICDs), perform requirements decomposition and manage cross-discipline trade-offs.
  • Flight test support & telemetry — experience in defining flight test points, telemetry selection, data reduction and correlation between predicted and measured behavior.
  • Weight & balance estimation and mass properties analysis.
  • Structural health monitoring, damage detection techniques and fracture mechanics.
  • Proficiency with PLM/ALM tools, configuration management and engineering change control systems (e.g., Windchill, Teamcenter).
  • Knowledge of avionics integration, EMI/EMC considerations and DO-160 environmental qualification standards.
  • Familiarity with reliability engineering methods (FMEA, DFMEA) and predictive maintenance approaches.

Soft Skills

  • Strong analytical thinking and systems-level problem solving with attention to detail.
  • Clear written and verbal communication for technical reports, certification packages and stakeholder briefings.
  • Collaborative team player who can work across engineering, manufacturing, suppliers and certification authorities.
  • Project management skills: prioritization, time management and ability to meet deadlines in a regulated environment.
  • Mentoring and leadership ability to develop junior engineers and drive technical reviews.
  • Adaptability and continuous learning mindset to stay current with new materials, tools and regulations.
  • Customer-focused orientation with the ability to translate field feedback into engineering improvements.
  • Negotiation and influencing skills when coordinating design changes with suppliers and internal stakeholders.
  • Resilience under pressure and bias for action when resolving in-service safety issues.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:
Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Aeronautical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering or related engineering discipline.

Preferred Education:
Master’s degree or PhD in Aerospace/Aeronautical Engineering, Structural Mechanics, Aerodynamics, or equivalent specialized discipline.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Aerospace/Aeronautical Engineering
  • Mechanical Engineering with aerospace focus
  • Structural Mechanics / Materials Science
  • Systems Engineering
  • Applied Aerodynamics / Fluid Mechanics

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 3–10+ years depending on seniority (Entry-level 0–3 yrs, Mid-level 3–7 yrs, Senior 7+ yrs)

Preferred:

  • 5+ years hands-on experience in aircraft or rotorcraft structural design, FEA and certification support.
  • Demonstrated experience supporting FAA/EASA certification projects or supplemental type certificates (STCs).
  • Prior exposure to flight test programs, structural test campaigns and supplier oversight.
  • Experience with composite structures, metallic design, and production support strongly preferred.
  • Proven track record of delivering documentation and compliance packages for airworthiness authorities.
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