Aerodynamics Engineer - Conceptual Sizing & Performance

About the role

Headquartered in Silicon Valley, California, Archer is a leader in the next-gen aerospace sector building an end-to-end advanced air mobility platform that delivers air taxis, unmanned aircraft systems ("UAS"), aviation-related physical artificial intelligence ("AI") solutions, and other technologies to customers worldwide across the commercial aerospace and defense sectors.

Our sights are set high and our problems are hard, and we believe that diversity in the workplace is what makes us smarter, drives better insights, and will ultimately lift us all to success. We are dedicated to cultivating an equitable and inclusive environment that embraces our differences, and supports and celebrates all of our team members.

The Role

As Aerodynamics/Performance Engineer, you will conceptually size the primary aerodynamic surfaces and estimate the performance of a next-generation eVTOL, using low-fidelity aerodynamic tools and handbook methods to build the vehicle's drag polar, trim it across the flight envelope, and support vehicle-level configuration trades with aerodynamic and performance feedback.

What You'll Do

• Conceptually size the primary aerodynamic surfaces (wing, tail/empennage) for a tiltrotor/eVTOL configuration against mission requirements across different use cases.
• Use low-fidelity aerodynamic tools such as AVL, OpenVSP, or similar, together with handbook methods (e.g., Hoerner, Roskam), to build up the vehicle's drag polar across the flight envelope.
• Trim the vehicle across representative flight conditions - hover, transition, and cruise - and generate trim lines/schedules.
• Estimate vehicle performance (range, endurance, speed, climb) from integrated aerodynamic and propulsion data.
• Conduct mission-level performance analysis across representative use cases (e.g., payload-range trades, hover ceiling, best-range/best-endurance speeds) to inform vehicle-level sizing and configuration trades.
• Provide aerodynamic feedback into vehicle-level configuration trades (surface sizing, control effectiveness, stability margins).
• Collaborate with the vehicle and powertrain architects to close overall vehicle performance against mission requirements.

What You'll Do

• Conceptual aerodynamic design experience using low-fidelity aerodynamic tools such as AVL, OpenVSP/VSPAERO, XFOIL, or similar is required.
• Strong grounding in handbook-based aerodynamic sizing methods (e.g., Hoerner, Roskam) is required.
• Trim and flight mechanics analysis across flight regimes, including hover, transition, and cruise.
• Experience with vehicle performance estimation methodologies (range/endurance/speed).
• Tiltrotor and rotorcraft aerodynamics/performance experience is desired.
• Experience with CFD solvers such as NASA codes (e.g., OVERFLOW, FUN3D), StarCCM+, Fluent, OpenFOAM), or similar is desired.
• Experience with rotorcraft comprehensive analysis tools such as RCAS, CAMRAD II, or similar is desired.
• Proficiency in Python, MATLAB, or similar for aero data reduction and analysis.

Pay and benefits

At Archer, we aim to attract, retain, and motivate talent with the skills and leadership needed to grow our business. We drive a pay-for-performance culture and reward performance that supports the Company's strategy. For this position, we are targeting a base pay range of $152,800 - $227,600. Actual compensation offered will be determined by job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.

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