Senior Rapid Prototyping Engineer (UAS)

Location: San Diego, United States; hybrid

Salary: $150K–$180K per year, plus equity and bonus opportunities.

Company

hirify.global develops collaborative autonomous systems for military and commercial applications across sea, air, and land.

What you will do

• Turn concepts and requirements into functional unmanned aircraft prototypes.
• Design and modify airframes, mechanisms, mounts, enclosures, payload interfaces, and vehicle components using CAD and engineering drawings.
• Build, assemble, fabricate, rework, and modify prototype aircraft and electromechanical subsystems.
• Integrate motors, propulsion systems, batteries, avionics, sensors, compute hardware, communications equipment, and payloads.
• Develop test fixtures and support bench, ground, environmental, and flight testing.
• Diagnose integration failures and rapidly redesign components based on test results.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Robotics, Mechatronics, or equivalent practical experience.
• At least 3 years of experience developing physical hardware systems.
• Demonstrated experience building and testing drones, UAVs, robotics, aircraft, or autonomous systems.
• Strong mechanical CAD skills and significant hands-on electromechanical prototyping experience.
• Experience with multiple manufacturing and fabrication processes, including common shop tools and prototype assembly.
• Strong mechanical intuition and ability to troubleshoot real-world hardware problems.

Nice to have

• Experience with multirotor, VTOL, fixed-wing, or hybrid UAV platforms.
• Experience integrating electric propulsion systems, motors, ESCs, batteries, servos, flight controllers, radios, GPS, sensors, or avionics.
• Hands-on experience with RC aircraft, drone racing, experimental aircraft, or robotics competitions.

Culture & Benefits

• Work on autonomous systems progressing from prototype to production and field deployment.
• Employer-paid health, dental, and vision insurance for employees and families.
• Employer-paid life insurance and a 401(k) program with matching.
• Unlimited PTO with an enforced two-week minimum, plus 16 weeks of paid parental leave.
• Equity package, home-office stipend, Global Entry, and monthly health and wellness stipend.
• Mission-driven environment focused on innovation, integrity, ownership, and servant leadership.