PteroDynamics Inc. Systems Engineer Colorado Springs, CO · Full time Company website

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PteroDynamics is a pioneer in autonomous vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft and inventor of the Transwing VTOL system that overcomes the inherent shortcomings of current VTOL aircraft by combining the speed, range, endurance, and payload capacity of a fixed-wing airplane with superior VTOL performance in a simple, efficient autonomous UAS platform.

PteroDynamics Inc. designs superior autonomous vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft systems that fly faster and go farther to reach remote locations without runways, even in harsh conditions. PteroDynamics’ Transwing® aircraft is unlike any other VTOL system, performing like a great fixed-wing aircraft with superb VTOL capabilities. Transwing aircraft unfold their wings to transition smoothly and quickly between vertical and horizontal flight, overcoming limitations inherent in other VTOL designs by combining the speed, range, and endurance of fixed-wing aircraft with superior VTOL performance in an efficient, highly automated platform. The Transwing is ideal for automating time-sensitive delivery of critical high-value payloads to hard-to-reach locations, including maritime logistics support, payload delivery to remote locations without airstrips, and reconnaissance and surveillance. Seeing is believing. Visit PteroDynamics.com for details and videos. 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

The essential functions include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Support the full product lifecycle for Transwing® aircraft systems, from user need and concept development through design, integration, verification, validation, fielding, operations, and sustainment.
• Develop, analyze, decompose, and maintain end-user requirements, system performance requirements, functional requirements, design requirements, interface requirements, and system specifications.
• Develop and maintain functional and physical architectures for aircraft systems, subsystems, ground systems, support equipment, and operational workflows.
• Perform trade studies, requirements analyses, system performance analyses, and other structured evaluations to support technical decision-making and system optimization.
• Manage requirements throughout design, development, integration, test, fielding, and sustainment using disciplined requirements management and configuration control practices.
• Create and maintain requirements traceability, verification plans, compliance matrices, and related systems engineering artifacts.
• Plan, coordinate, and lead system requirements reviews, system design reviews, test readiness reviews, flight readiness reviews, and other systems engineering technical reviews.
• Integrate technical efforts across engineering teams to ensure subsystem designs, interfaces, test activities, and program decisions are optimized at the system level.
• Work closely with mechanical, electrical, software, controls, manufacturing, flight test, operations, quality, suppliers, and program management teams to resolve system-level issues.
• Support system integration, lab testing, ground testing, flight testing, demonstrations, and field operations.
• Identify, assess, manage, and communicate technical risks, including system performance risks, integration risks, interface risks, schedule risks, verification risks, and operational risks.
• Support root cause analysis and corrective action development for issues discovered during design, integration, testing, flight operations, or fielded system use.
• Develop, document, and implement corrective actions in collaboration with cross-functional engineering and operations teams.
• Support verification and validation planning, including definition of verification methods, test procedures, analysis methods, inspection criteria, demonstration criteria, and acceptance criteria.
• Analyze test results, operational data, anomalies, and system performance against requirements and expected behavior.
• Support development of system-level concepts of operation, mission use cases, operational scenarios, system interfaces, and sustainment concepts.
• Generate and maintain technical documentation including system specifications, requirements documents, trade studies, architecture descriptions, interface control documents, test plans, test reports, risk registers, review packages, and decision records. Ensure strong documentation, requirements traceability, technical rigor, and knowledge capture across the engineering lifecycle.
• Travel occasionally to support flight test, field operations, customer demonstrations, supplier activities, or other program needs.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or a related technical field.
• Professional experience in systems engineering, product development, aerospace engineering, autonomous systems, robotics, automotive systems, defense systems, or another complex multidisciplinary hardware/software environment.
• Hands-on experience supporting the product lifecycle from user need and requirements definition through design, integration, test, fielding, and sustainment.
• Experience performing trade studies, requirements analysis, system analysis, or other structured technical decision-support activities.
• Experience developing and decomposing end-user requirements, performance requirements, functional requirements, design requirements, and system specifications.
• Demonstrated experience managing requirements throughout design, development, integration, test, and fielding.
• Experience creating requirements traceability matrices, verification cross-reference matrices, compliance matrices, or similar tools used to map verification activities to requirements.
• Ability to plan and lead system requirements reviews, design reviews, test readiness reviews, and other technical reviews.
• Broad technical knowledge across multiple engineering domains and ability to communicate effectively with subject matter experts across disciplines.
• Ability to integrate cross-functional engineering efforts and optimize technical decisions at the system level.
• Experience identifying, assessing, and managing technical risk.
• Hands-on mindset and willingness to work directly in the lab, in the field, and around aircraft hardware, test equipment, and operational systems.
• Strong analytical, communication, writing, presentation, and documentation skills.
• Demonstrated ability to work in a fast-paced R&D or startup environment with novel technologies, changing priorities, and a high level of uncertainty.
• U.S. Citizenship or Permanent Resident Status required.
• Ability to work on-site in Colorado Springs, CO. 

Other Qualifications & Desired Competencies

• Experience integrating hardware and software onto or into air vehicles, including avionics, sensors, payloads, embedded computing systems, communications equipment, software configurations, interfaces, and related aircraft-level integration, test, and troubleshooting activities.
• Experience with system architecture development, functional analysis, interface definition, and model-based systems engineering methods or tools.
• Familiarity with requirements management tools, issue tracking systems, configuration management systems, PLM tools, or related engineering data environments.
• Experience with verification and validation of complex hardware/software systems.
• Experience supporting flight test, ground test, system integration labs, hardware-in-the-loop testing, or field operations.
• Experience performing root cause analysis and developing, implementing, and verifying corrective actions.
• Familiarity with reliability, maintainability, safety, airworthiness, certification, or design assurance practices.
• Familiarity with UAS operational concepts, aviation regulations, military standards, ASTM standards, FAA processes, or airworthiness qualification methods.
• Experience developing concepts of operation, use cases, mission scenarios, system behavior descriptions, or operational support concepts.
• Experience with technical risk registers, risk burn-down plans, mitigation planning, and risk communication to technical and program leadership.
• Ability to balance technical rigor with practical execution in a resource-constrained, fast-moving startup environment.
• Comfortable working across concept development, engineering design, lab test, flight test, field operations, and sustainment.
• Bias toward disciplined documentation, experimental validation, rapid learning, and system-level optimization. 

Key Attributes for Success

• Strong system-level thinker with the ability to understand how user needs, requirements, architecture, design, integration, test, operations, and sustainment connect.
• Hands-on, practical problem solver who is comfortable working directly with aircraft hardware, lab equipment, test teams, and field operations.
• Broad technical curiosity and ability to communicate intelligently across mechanical, electrical, software, controls, manufacturing, flight test, and operations domains.
• Clear, disciplined, and quantitative approach to requirements, trade studies, verification, technical risk, and decision-making.
• Collaborative, proactive communicator who can align teams around system-level priorities and technical decisions.
• High ownership mindset and willingness to drive issues to closure across organizational and technical boundaries.
• Ability to prioritize effectively and make progress despite ambiguity.
• Comfortable leading technical reviews, facilitating engineering discussions, and documenting decisions.
• Ability to thrive in an agile, experimental environment. 

Company Values

• People
• Excellence
• Accountability
• Knowledge

People: We value relationships with our colleagues and customers while embracing and upholding the worth of every individual

• Trust - we push down responsibility in decision making to the lowest level that makes sense, while maintaining accountability
• Respect - we always maintain respect for ourselves and others
• Communication - we encourage open communication and respect for all perspectives
• Enjoyment - together, we create an environment that is fun and enjoyable

Excellence: We have a mindset of excellence at all times

• Pursuit of Excellence - we are passionate about our work and strive for superior outcomes at all times
• Incremental Approach to Success - We agree that bringing our best each day is important and that incremental improvement matters
• Willingness to listen and learn - we believe success requires remaining humble, having an open mind, and listening to constructive input
• Coaching - being a great teammate includes a willingness to be coached and taking the time to help others achieve excellence
• Measuring Success - we measure our success not only by how much money we make but also by the satisfaction of our workforce and the value of the solutions we bring to the world

Accountability: We believe the foundation of trust is accountability

• Collaboration - we recognize that our success depends on how well we work together
• Personal Responsibility - we believe in holding ourselves accountable, starting with self-accountability, and including accountability to co-workers/teammates, and ultimately to our customers and our shareholders
• Consistency - our happiness, productivity and ultimate success all require consistency from subordinates and managers alike
• Professionalism - we believe that our attitude and approach to our work and how we handle ourselves are crucial and will be recognized by our peers and our customers
• Courage - we do what is right and are not tempted to create shortcuts, avoid hard work, or do the wrong thing because it is easy or expeditious
• Merit - hard work is recognized and rewarded

Knowledge: We believe that innovation and success depend on gaining, documenting and sharing knowledge

• Knowledge Gain - we remain inquisitive and seek data and information to gain and build knowledge
• Knowledge Sharing - we believe in the open sharing of information rather than having it exist in silos`
• Knowledge Documentation - we believe that insights gained during the process of research and development and from feedback from customers and other stakeholders must be documented so that others may understand and build upon those insights
• Customer Needs - we can only provide a superior solution if we truly understand the needs and requirements of our customers 

What We Offer

At PteroDynamics, you will have the opportunity to make a significant impact on the future of aerial technology through creativity and innovation. The company offers a comprehensive compensation package, which includes a competitive salary, stock options, company-sponsored medical insurance, dental, vision, term life insurance with an AD&D rider, 401(k) plan with up to 3% matching by the company, long-term disability, paid time off, paid holidays, paid sick time, and a collaborative inclusive working environment in an exciting, growing startup company.

Note

This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the employee(s) incumbent in this position. Employees will be required to follow any other job-related instructions and to perform any other job-related duties requested by any person authorized to give instructions or assignments. All duties and responsibilities are essential functions and requirements and are subject to possible modification to reasonably accommodate individuals with disabilities. To perform this job successfully, the incumbents will possess the skills, aptitudes, and abilities to perform each duty proficiently. Some requirements may exclude individuals who pose a direct threat or significant risk to the health or safety of themselves or others. The requirements listed in this document are the minimum levels of knowledge, skills, or abilities. This document does not create an employment contract, implied or otherwise, other than an “at will” relationship.

PteroDynamics is an Equal Opportunity Employer, drug-free workplace, and complies with ADA regulations as applicable. If you're ready to join us in reshaping the future of UAVs, we encourage you to apply for this position and bring your unique technical brilliance to our team.