Aerodynamics Engineer – Conceptual Sizing & Performance (eVTOL)

Location: San Jose, California, United States

Base pay: $152,800–$227,600 per year

Company

hirify.global is an aerospace company designing, manufacturing, and operating an all-electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft for sustainable air mobility.

What you will do

• Conceptually size wing and tail surfaces for tiltrotor/eVTOL configurations against mission requirements.
• Use AVL, OpenVSP/VSPAERO, XFOIL, and handbook methods to develop drag polars across the flight envelope.
• Analyze vehicle trim across hover, transition, and cruise, and generate trim lines and schedules.
• Estimate range, endurance, speed, and climb performance using aerodynamic and propulsion data.
• Conduct mission-level performance analyses, including payload-range trades, hover ceiling, and best-range or best-endurance speeds.
• Provide aerodynamic feedback for configuration trades and collaborate with vehicle and powertrain architects.

Requirements

• Experience with conceptual aerodynamic design using low-fidelity tools such as AVL, OpenVSP/VSPAERO, XFOIL, or similar.
• Strong grounding in handbook-based aerodynamic sizing methods, including Hoerner and Roskam.
• Experience with trim and flight-mechanics analysis across hover, transition, and cruise.
• Experience estimating vehicle range, endurance, and speed performance.
• Proficiency in Python, MATLAB, or similar tools for aerodynamic data reduction and analysis.
• Work authorization must be arranged without company visa sponsorship; hirify.global is currently unable to provide work visa sponsorship.

Nice to have

• Tiltrotor and rotorcraft aerodynamics or performance experience.
• Experience with CFD solvers such as OVERFLOW, FUN3D, StarCCM+, Fluent, or OpenFOAM.
• Experience with rotorcraft comprehensive analysis tools such as RCAS or CAMRAD II.

Culture & Benefits

• Pay-for-performance culture with compensation tied to job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.
• Commitment to an equitable, inclusive, and diverse workplace.
• Reasonable accommodations are available during the application and hiring process.