Senior Staff Engineer, Actuation Systems Architecture & Design (RX)

Location: Seattle, Washington; on-site. US citizens only with an active Secret or higher security clearance.

Salary: $208,512–$312,768 per year, plus bonus, benefits, and equity for regular employees.

Company

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

What you will do

• Own the architecture, requirements, detailed design, integration, and production transition of actuation systems for a Group 5 UAV fighter aircraft.
• Select and size actuators, define sequencing and redundancy management, perform failure mode analysis, and integrate mechanisms.
• Integrate actuation with control surfaces, weapons bay doors, airframe mechanisms, electrical power, thermal management, structures, and propulsion.
• Define requirements verification traceability and resolve technology and integration risks through focused technical assessments.
• Define and execute qualification testing to MIL-STD-810 and mature hardware toward production and MIL-HDBK-516 airworthiness certification.
• Lead design-maturity and qualification-status reviews at SRR, PDR, and CDR.

Requirements

• US citizenship and an active Secret or higher clearance are required.
• 8–15 years of aircraft actuation systems design experience, including hands-on electric actuation such as EMA or EHA, or centralized hydraulics and working knowledge of the other.
• B.S. or M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• Experience sourcing COTS or custom aerospace components, managing suppliers, and assembling benchtop or vehicle-level test setups.
• Strong knowledge of actuator sizing, power and thermal interfaces, FMEA, redundancy management, and mechanical mechanism integration.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary actuation integration and supporting MIL-HDBK-516, MIL-STD-810, SRR, PDR, and CDR activities.

Nice to have

• Fighter or fighter-adjacent program experience, including manned or unmanned aircraft.
• Experience developing electric actuation architectures for control surfaces or other aircraft mechanisms.
• Weapons bay mechanisms or store-separation-adjacent mechanical systems experience.

Culture & Benefits

• Full-time regular employee package includes salary within the listed range, bonus, benefits, and equity.
• Work is performed on-site in Seattle within an accelerated aircraft development environment.
• Offers are contingent on a cleared background and may include a reference check.
• Equal opportunity workplace with accommodation support for applicants with disabilities or special needs.