Hardware & Rapid Prototyping Specialist — UAS Development

The role

Alongside our pilot network, RAAD is developing its own in-house UAS platforms — including a fixed-wing VTOL airframe purpose-built for our capture missions. This is hands-on aircraft development: airfoil selection and flight dynamics analysis, CAD design, printing and shaping parts in the morning, and flying them at the test range in the afternoon. You'll work in our Las Vegas prototyping lab, iterating on airframes at a pace most aerospace programs can't touch.

What you'll do

• Design airframe structures and components in SolidWorks — fuselage sections, wing geometry, tail booms and V-tail surfaces, motor mounts, and modular nose sections that swap between camera, LiDAR, and thermal payloads.
• Own flight dynamics and aerodynamic design: airfoil selection and modeling, CG placement and longitudinal stability, control surface sizing, and CFD-informed geometry optimization validated against real test flights.
• Develop the VTOL configuration — hover-to-forward-flight transition hardware, lift motor placement, and the structural tradeoffs that come with it.
• Build fast and iterate faster: FDM/SLA 3D printing of structural and non-structural parts, hot-wire foam cutting and shaping, carbon spar and composite layup work, and vacuum forming where it wins.
• Integrate the electronics stack: flight controllers, ESCs and motor/propeller/battery selection and testing, GPS and telemetry radios, camera payloads, navigation lighting, and clean wiring harness design.
• Run structured flight test campaigns — instrument the aircraft, log and analyze flight data, find the failure, fix it, and fly again the same week.
• Prepare designs for small-batch production: printable part orientation and tolerances, assembly documentation, and BOM management.

What you'll bring

• 5+ years in hardware prototyping, UAS development, R/C aircraft design, or aerospace engineering — with aircraft you can show us, flying.
• SolidWorks proficiency is required — parametric part and assembly design is your daily tool, and you can hand off clean STEP files.
• Real understanding of fixed-wing flight dynamics: airfoil behavior, stability margins, wing loading, and what changes when you bolt lift motors onto a cruiser.
• Deep bench skills: 3D printers you've tuned yourself, foam shaping, composites, soldering, and crimping harnesses that survive vibration.
• Working knowledge of UAS electronics — flight controller setup and tuning (ArduPilot/PX4 or similar), power systems, and RF basics.
• Comfort with the crash-analyze-rebuild loop: prototypes break, and you treat every broken airframe as data.

On-site in Las Vegas

This role is on-site at our Las Vegas prototyping lab and test range — the aircraft, printers, foam, and flight line are all there. This position is not remote.