Flight Sciences Engineer

As a Flight Sciences Engineer at Elroy Air, you will own performance analysis, flight dynamics, and configuration trades across our hybrid-electric lift+cruise VTOL program. You will be the analytical backbone of the vehicle team — reasoning across hover, transition, and cruise regimes, and working directly with propulsion, structures, and controls engineers to drive decisions from early concept through certification.

• Own vehicle performance modeling across hover, transition, and cruise: mission analysis, hybrid-electric energy management, climb optimization, and range/endurance trades
• Build and maintain 6-DOF flight dynamics models for a lift+cruise configuration: aero database construction through the transition corridor, rotor-wing interaction modeling, stability derivatives, and trim analysis in hover, transition, and cruise
• Contribute to vehicle design trades: feed flight sciences insight into OML shaping, drag reduction, control surface sizing, and flight controls architecture to close performance and handling qualities requirements
• Derive external flight loads across the operational envelope and collaborate with the structures team to define limit and ultimate load cases, support fatigue analysis, and feed aeroelastic models
• Support flight test planning, instrumentation requirements, and post-flight data reduction and analysis; correlate measured performance against analytical predictions
• Build and improve simulation environments used for envelope expansion, handling qualities assessment, and controls development
• Partner with propulsion and power teams to integrate hybrid-electric powertrain models into mission analysis; define power-required envelopes and binding constraints across the flight profile
• Contribute to certification planning by authoring compliance analyses, performance substantiation reports, and supporting V&V documentation

• B.S. or M.S. in Aerospace Engineering or a closely related field
• 5+ years of meaningful hands-on experience in flight sciences, vehicle performance, or flight dynamics
• Proficiency in vehicle performance modeling: energy-based methods, point-mass and full 6-DOF simulation, power-required/available analysis
• Experience building or working with aerodynamic databases and stability derivative sets for flight simulation or loads analysis
• Familiarity with flight test methods: test card development, FTI requirements, data reduction, and prediction-to-flight correlation
• Strong programming skills in Python and/or MATLAB for analysis, post-processing, and tool development
• Solid understanding of fixed-wing, rotary-wing, or hybrid lift+cruise vehicle aeromechanics
• Working proficiency with aerodynamic analysis tools across fidelity levels — from low-order methods (panel codes, blade element, XFOIL) through mid-fidelity (RANS CFD): sufficient to set up runs, interpret results, and interface with dedicated CFD engineers
• Clear technical communication skills: able to distill complex analysis into concise summaries for engineering and program leadership

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.