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SI

Sr Principal Aerospace Engineer

Sierra Nevada Corporation
United Statesfull_timeVerifiedPosted 7 Aug 2025
💰 $260,922/yr($189,762/yr$260,922/yr)

About the role

The ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance), Aviation, and Security (IAS) business area is a leader in ISR and aviation, it is a leading prime manned and unmanned aircraft systems integrator for innovative, high-performance ISR and aviation systems. Its end-to-end Command, Control, Computers, Communications and Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance (C4ISR) capabilities encompass design, integration, test, certification, ground/flight training and complete logistics support. IAS tailors solutions to customer cost, performance, and schedule requirements and designs to consistently exceed expectations – with an unrivaled record of on time and on (or under) budget deliveries.

SNC has led thoughtful and disruptive change in the aerospace and defense industry for the past 60 years and now, we’re applying this tenacity and expertise to the U.S. Air Force’s (USAF) Survivable Airborne Operations Center (SAOC) mission. Join the SNC-led SAOC team and be a part of exciting and meaningful work to modernize and deliver the next-generation SAOC aircraft trusted by the President, Secretary of Defense and Chairs of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to ensure continued critical command, control and communication during national emergencies. If you’re passionate about building the airborne command post of the future, consider SNC for your next mission. Learn more about NC3 and SAOC here.

Do you love bringing "out-there" ideas to life? We are innovators on a mission to unite, explore and inspire. As a lead aerospace engineer, you will lead a team to research, design, develop, test, certify, deploy and improve cutting edge products and services. These cover a very wide range from advanced mission payloads and electronic systems through highly integrated aircraft. You'll develop complex aerodynamic components, structures, and systems. Your technical duties involve the design and development, analysis, and test of new products and processes throughout the product lifecycle. Aerospace engineers are responsible for generating external loads, aircraft performance estimates, stability and control assessments, and other efforts that involve fluid dynamics analysis through the use of handbook methods, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), and/or test data reduction (flight test data and wind tunnel data).

At SNC’s ISR, Aviation and Security (IAS) team we are a leading manned and unmanned aircraft systems integrator for high-performance intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and aviation systems. IAS tailors solutions to customer cost, performance, and schedule requirements and designs to consistently exceed expectations and provide a turnkey approach to enable our customers to focus on their mission. Learn more about IAS

Here’s what you can expect: 

  • Generous paid time off and flex time 
  • Friendly and talented colleagues 
  • Exclusive SNC company events 
  • Leadership and development training 
  • SNC Mentorship Program 
  • Education reimbursement  

Additional location specific amenities: 

  • Modern Campus setting built with collaboration spaces, spectacular mountain views and natural light throughout 
  • Free to use fitness center on-site 
  • State-of-the-art coffee house 
  • Full-service Cafeteria with planned breakfast and lunch options  
  • Access to walking and biking trails 

Responsibilities

  • You will be the point of contact between the aerodynamics team and program leadership / external customers
  • You will be responsible for direct management of the aerospace engineers assigned to the program
  • You will be responsible for task planning and execution within your team
  • You will review analytical aerodynamic data produced by your team and organize wind tunnel test events
  • You will work with Flight Sciences functional leadership to guide processes and procedures within the greater Flight Sciences team

Qualifications You Must Have:

  • Bachelor's of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, or other related discipline and typically 14 or more years of relevant experience
  • Higher education may substitute for relevant experience
  • Experience leading a technical team
  • Demonstrated knowledge of engineering principles and practices
  • Thorough understanding of Computer Aided Engineering tools and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
  • Experience working in multi-disciplinary design and development teams
  • Experienc

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Company

Sierra Nevada Corporation

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