Staff Engineer, Fuel Systems (R5900)

Location: Seattle, Washington, United States. Workplace: On-site. U.S. Citizenship and an active security clearance are required.

Salary: $175,000–$263,000 per year, plus bonus, benefits, and equity for regular employees.

Company

hirify.global is a venture-backed defense-tech company developing intelligent systems, autonomous aircraft, autonomy software, and simulation technologies.

What you will do

• Own the aircraft fuel system as Responsible Engineer from requirements and architecture through design, procurement, integration, testing, flight, and operational deployment.
• Design and integrate fuel tanks, pumps, valves, plumbing, venting and pressurization systems, filtration, level sensing, and related hardware.
• Analyze fuel system behavior across demanding operating conditions, including transient engine demand, elevated-G maneuvering, tank depletion, slosh, vapor pressure, cavitation, and thermal effects.
• Lead design reviews, supplier engagements, hardware procurement, and cross-functional integration with propulsion, airframe, manufacturing, controls, supply chain, test, and flight teams.
• Plan and execute component, subsystem, vehicle-level, ground, and flight testing, including instrumentation, data acquisition, validation, and flight readiness.
• Investigate failures and anomalies, analyze test and flight data, identify root causes, and drive corrective actions and hardware improvements.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
• 7+ years of experience in aerospace fuel systems, fluid systems, propulsion, or related aircraft system development.
• Strong knowledge of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, compressible and incompressible flow, fuel system design, pressure losses, pump performance, venting, vapor pressure, cavitation, transient flow, and thermal effects.
• Hands-on experience integrating fluid-system hardware, instrumentation, testing, flight support, and technical failure investigations.
• Strong proficiency in Python or similar tools for engineering analysis, data reduction, and model correlation.
• U.S. Citizenship and an active security clearance are required.

Nice to have

• Experience with fuel systems for high-performance aircraft, tactical aircraft, UAVs, elevated-G maneuvering, or challenging fuel-delivery conditions.
• Familiarity with GFSSP, REFPROP, CFD, ANSYS, FEA, or similar thermal-fluid analysis tools.
• Experience working with aerospace suppliers through component selection, procurement, qualification, and integration.
• Rocket propulsion or propellant-systems experience.
• Master’s or Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related discipline.

Culture & Benefits

• Full-time regular employment with benefits, bonus, and equity.
• Work in an accelerated aircraft development environment with hands-on ownership and rapid transition from concepts to operational capability.
• Collaborate across propulsion, vehicle, manufacturing, supply chain, test, and flight functions.
• Compensation is determined based on skills, experience, certifications, and work location.