Sr Staff Stability and Control / Performance Engineer

At Wisk, we're transforming the future of urban mobility through safe, all-electric, autonomous flight. We are a passionate team working together toward a sustainable future, solving high-impact problems that have never been solved before. By delivering everyday flight for everyone, we're making it possible to spend less time getting there and more time being there. If you want to be part of shaping the future of mobility, then read on!
We are developing a fully autonomous all-electric aircraft that will operate safely in an urban air-mobility environment. We are looking for a Sr. Staff Stability and Control (S&C) Engineer to join our team to support the design of this vehicle. The goal of this individual is to ensure that this vehicle meets S&C requirements internal to Wisk and operates in accordance with all relevant certification requirements. The successful candidate will work within the S&C and Performance teams that are part of a larger Flight Dynamics organization that includes the aerodynamics, loads, mass properties and GNC disciplines.

Why we need you:

• The goal of the S&C and Performance group at Wisk is to create, modify, and run in-house tools to perform linear and non-linear stability and control analyses and/or estimate critical performance parameters, such as stall speeds, best rate of climb, climb ceiling, maximum range, noise profiles and energy reserves.
• The successful candidate has direct hands-on experience developing and building type certified aircraft, from initial concept through flight testing and certification, with the technical breadth necessary to interface with all engineering functions such as Systems & Safety Engineering, Hardware, Software, Manufacturing, Test, and Certification. In this role, the candidate must be a highly motivated, self-starting individual with a broad set of skills and never afraid of facing complex technical challenges.

What you will do:

• Principally you will analyze the vehicle’s stability and control along longitudinal and directional/lateral axes. This will include evaluating the vehicle’s tendency to reject/amplify disturbances, and will quantify the vehicle’s behavior relative to specific dynamic modes (such as Dutch roll, spiral and phugoid modes). These analyses will be conducted for all phases of flight including hover, transition and wingborne operations.
• Create, modify, and run six degrees of freedom (6DOF) Simulink based trajectory simulations that quantify the vehicle’s operating state for a commanded mission profile. This will include simulations of specific Mission Task Elements as well as full flight plans.
• Ensure that systems of flight controls in conjunction with failure rate data meet safety and reliability requirements.
• Estimate critical performance parameters, such as stall speeds, best rate of climb, climb ceiling, maximum range and energy reserves
• Develop and validate physics-based performance models that include mathematical models of various rotorcraft components (tilt rotors, vertical rotors, batteries, fuselage)
• Participate in wind-tunnel/flight testing and analyze data to support S&C and performance analyses and validation
• Suggest, develop, and improve tools & processes for performance analysis and optimization of flight mission planning for an autonomous aircraft
• Author methodology documents to support certification with FAR Part 23/25/27 requirements

What you have done:

• B.S. in Aerospace Engineering, or another relevant discipline
• 10+ years of experience doing detailed S&C analyses on fixed wing aircraft and/or rotorcraft
• Gained strong knowledge of aircraft flight characteristics, stability and control analyses and associated methodologies and tools development
• Knowledge of aerodynamic modeling and simulation and the use of flight simulation models
• Ability to question traditional assumptions and apply your knowledge to novel eVTOL designs and operational scenarios
• Knowledge of Aircraft Certification Processes and Standards for FAA Part 23/25
• Excellent understanding of key concepts and equations for performance and flight characteristics analysis
• Experience with scripting languages (Python and MATLAB/Simulink) and automation

Desired:

• M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or another relevant discipline
• 15+ years of aircraft performance analysis experience working on complex aerospace systems
• Understanding of fixed-wing and/or rotorcraft aerodynamics, including familiarity with the use of RANS CFD codes and lower fidelity tools such as Xfoil & AVL
• Previous FAA Part 23/25 and/or Part 27 certification program experience preferred
• FAA Flight Analyst Designated Engineering Representative (DER) for Part 23/25/27 
• Knowled