---
title: 'Aircraft Design Fellow (Summer 2027 Internship) at nTop'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/aircraft-design-fellow-summer-2027-internship-ntop-new-york-7tmxb7sv32am'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-11-12'
---

# Aircraft Design Fellow (Summer 2027 Internship) at nTop

- **Company:** nTop
- **Location:** New York, NY
- **Employment:** internship
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-11-05
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-12
- **Apply:** https://jobs.gem.com/ntop/am9icG9zdDqsw8QdEms1JsLoDfdV18NX

## Job description

Are you ready to take your engineering skills from textbook to takeoff?

We're looking for three highly motivated engineering students to join the nTop Aircraft Design Fellowship for a transformative 12-week summer immersion at our New York City headquarters. This is an accelerated, hands-on design sprint where you and your team will be responsible for the end-to-end development of a cutting-edge Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), from mission requirements to first flight.

Forget working on someone else's project. You will design, analyze, and optimize a functional aircraft from scratch using the powerful capabilities of nTop, pushing the boundaries of what's possible in advanced aircraft design.

## What You'll Do

- Design & Optimize: Utilize nTop to develop a novel UAS configuration, airframe, and component structure tailored to specific mission goals.
- Build & Fly: Bring your digital design into the physical world, leading the construction, assembly, and flight testing of your prototype.
- Be a Thought Leader: Document your entire process to create a comprehensive nTop learning course, generate compelling marketing content, and co-author a publishable research paper.
- Impact the Industry: Your work will directly influence how aerospace companies approach design and manufacturing, showcasing the full potential of nTop.

Fellowship Details

- Duration: 12 Weeks (Summer 2027 - specific dates flexible)
- Location: nTop Headquarters, New York City
- Pay: $20 per hour for 40 hours per week
- Outcomes: A built and flown UAS prototype, a co-authored research publication, a comprehensive learning course, and valuable professional marketing content.

Desired Experience by Role We’re building a small, high-performing, cross-functional team of three exceptional students: a Configurator/Analysis Lead, an Avionics/Controls Lead, and a Design/Manufacturing Lead. Each role is critical to getting this aircraft off the ground and requires deep expertise in a specific engineering discipline.

Take a look at the roles below, and when you apply, let us know which position matches your expertise. If you’re ready for an unparalleled opportunity to lead a full-stack aerospace project and leave your mark on the future of design technology, apply now!

1. Configurator / Analysis Lead This role is for the student with a deep theoretical and practical understanding of aircraft performance and flight dynamics. You will define the aircraft's outer mold line (OML) and ensure it meets all performance, stability, and control requirements.

Required Experience & Skills

- Currently pursuing a degree in Aerospace Engineering (or equivalent).
- Deep understanding of aircraft configuration design, including trade studies and sizing methodologies.
- Proven ability to conduct aircraft performance analysis (e.g., range, endurance, takeoff, landing).
- Strong theoretical background in aerodynamics and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) principles.
- Experience with stability and control analysis for fixed-wing or rotary-wing aircraft.
- Familiarity with air vehicle mass properties and balance calculation.
- Proficiency with relevant analysis software (e.g., MATLAB/Simulink, XFLR5, or other industry tools).
- Experience translating mission requirements into a viable preliminary aircraft design.

1. Avionics / Controls Lead This role is for the student who thrives at the intersection of mechanical and electrical systems. You will be responsible for specifying, integrating, and programming all electronic components and flight control systems.

Required Experience & Skills

- Currently pursuing a degree in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering (or equivalent).
- Demonstrated experience building and integrating mechatronic systems (e.g., robotics, autonomous vehicles, or UAS).
- Experience with component specification for UAS, including motors, servos, batteries, and flight controllers.
- Proficiency in programming microcontrollers and/or flight management systems (e.g., ArduPilot, PX4, or similar open-source platforms).
- Strong understanding of control systems theory and implementation (e.g., PID loop tuning).
- Hands-on experience with soldering, wiring harnesses, and electrical layout for compact systems.
- Familiarity with common communication protocols (e.g., I2C, SPI, CAN).

1. Design / Manufacturing Lead This role is for the student with exceptional hands-on design and manufacturing experience. You will translate the OML into a detailed, manufacturable airframe, focusing on structural integrity and leveraging nTop's advanced design for additive manufacturing (DfAM) capabilities.

Required Experience & Skills

- Currently pursuing a degree in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering (or equivalent).
- Extensive, proven experience in Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM), including topology optimization, lattice generation, and part consolidation.
- Proficiency in detailed mechanical design and creating engineering drawings.
- Strong understanding of material properties (especially polymers and composites) relevant to airframe construction.
- Hands-on experience with Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing) processes (e.g., FDM, SLS, SLA) and post-processing techniques.
- Experience with structural analysis and designing components to meet specific load cases.
- Familiarity with traditional manufacturing methods (e.g., composite layup, machining) is a plus.

## About nTop

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: nTop provides computational design software that enables engineers to rapidly iterate, simulate, and manufacture high-performance parts for aerospace, automotive, medical, and other advanced industries.
- **Entity Type**: Private (raised $135M in total funding)
- **Headquarters**: New York City, USA
- **Founded**: 2015
- **Founders**: Bradley Rothenberg

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Engineering software (computational design, computer-aided engineering, additive manufacturing)
- **Target customers**: B2B, primarily serving engineering teams in aerospace, automotive, medical devices, and consumer products — large enterprises and mission-critical government contractors.
- **Mission or purpose statement**: nTop changes how engineering gets done by collapsing months of iteration into hours, letting teams explore thousands of variants instead of settling for the first option.

## Products & Services
- **nTop Platform**: A computational design software that uses implicit modeling and field-driven design to close the loop between geometry and physics. It allows live parameter updates, automatic meshing (or no conformal meshing required), and seamless integration with internal and external simulation tools. The product serves concept design, detailed design, research, and production stages.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available (private company)
- **Key Metric**: Total Funding — $135M raised
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Not explicitly named in available sources, but the company has raised significant venture capital.
- **Growth Signals**:
  - Over 450 customers as of mid-2025
  - Over 100 employees globally
  - Serves customers in 30+ countries
  - More than 270,000 designs generated using nTop software
  - Cited in 550+ scholarly articles in 2022 alone
  - Used by mission-critical satellite, aerospace, medical implant, and prosthetics companies

## Competitive Advantages
- **Implicit Modeling Engine**: Unlike traditional CAD, nTop uses implicit modeling that lets engineers modify complex designs in real time without rebuild errors, enabling rapid exploration of thousands of design variants.
- **Integrated Physics**: Physics and simulation are built directly into the design process, not bolted on as an afterthought.
- **Field-Driven Design**: Engineers can incorporate performance predictions into the geometry from the start, dramatically reducing iteration cycles.
- **Proven Mission-Critical Use Cases**: Deployed in aerospace, defense, and medical applications where failure is not an option.

## Strategic Focus
- **Product-Led Growth**: Continuing to expand the nTop platform's capabilities for faster design iteration and deeper simulation integration.
- **Industry Expansion**: Deepening presence in aerospace, automotive, medical, and consumer products while entering new verticals.
- **Customer Scale**: Growing from 450+ customers toward broader enterprise adoption, particularly in regulated industries.
- **Global Reach**: Serving customers in 30+ countries and likely expanding international operations.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture & Values**: The company deeply values diversity — more than half of the leadership team is from groups typically underrepresented in tech and engineering. Flexibility and collaboration are core to the culture.
- **Remote/Hybrid Policy**: A mix of remote, hybrid (NY HQ), and in-office roles. Many engineering positions are US-remote or remote from Germany/UK. Product and sales roles also offer remote flexibility. The People & Office Operations role is in-office at NY HQ.
- **Perks & Benefits**: Competitive salary, excellent vacation plan, home office and professional development reimbursements. The company strives to provide similar perks and benefits to international employees as those offered to US employees.
- **Engineering Culture**: The team is building next-generation engineering tools that are "unlocking the full potential of advanced manufacturing." Engineers work on a distributed computing platform, build/compiler tooling, developer productivity, and core geometry engines.
- **Impact**: Employees get to work on software that is used to build satellite components, medical implants, and other groundbreaking products.

## Sources
1. [ntop.com - About Us](https://www.ntop.com/company/about-us/)
2. [ntop.com - Careers](https://www.ntop.com/careers/)
3. [jobs.gem.com - nTop Careers](https://jobs.gem.com/ntop)
4. [ntop.com - Leadership](https://www.ntop.com/leadership-team/)
5. [ntop.com - Home Page](https://www.ntop.com/home-july-2025/)

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