---
title: 'Lead Mechanical Engineer, Airframe at Poseidon Aerospace'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/lead-mechanical-engineer-airframe-poseidon-aerospace-alameda-cmzp9ptrpq8q'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-07'
---

# Lead Mechanical Engineer, Airframe at Poseidon Aerospace

- **Company:** Poseidon Aerospace
- **Location:** Alameda
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-09-05
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-07
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/poseidonaero/9a89f209-76d2-439b-b501-b266e0bdeda1

## Job description

## ABOUT POSEIDON AEROSPACE:

Poseidon Aerospace is reimagining how the world moves goods. We build and operate full-size autonomous cargo aircraft - capable of carrying two tons of payload over a thousand nautical miles. From remote communities to contested logistics operations, our platforms unlock a new cost curve for air freight, making it faster, cheaper, and accessible anywhere it's needed. Headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area with locations in Washington DC, Oregon, and Maine; we're building something consequential.

## ABOUT THE ROLE

The Lead Mechanical Engineer will own the structural and mechanical design of major aircraft assemblies from concept through flight testing.

This role is responsible for setting technical direction, leading design reviews, managing subsystem interfaces, and supporting other mechanical engineers. It is a hands-on engineering position that requires detailed involvement in CAD, analysis, manufacturing, assembly, and testing.

## RESPONSIBILITIES

- Lead the design of primary aircraft structures, mechanisms, and major airframe assemblies
- Develop composite and metallic structures, joints, interfaces, and mounting systems
- Define structural load paths, design requirements, margins, and validation methods
- Perform and review hand calculations and finite element analysis
- Evaluate strength, stiffness, buckling, fatigue, vibration, and composite failure modes
- Lead preliminary and critical design reviews
- Own CAD assemblies, production drawings, bills of materials, tolerances, and design releases
- Manage mechanical interfaces between the airframe, propulsion, avionics, flight controls, landing systems, and other subsystems
- Design aircraft mechanisms, including control surfaces, doors, landing gear, actuation systems, and deployable systems
- Work with manufacturing to develop tooling, assembly processes, inspection methods, and repair procedures
- Plan and support component, structural, subsystem, and vehicle-level testing
- Investigate failures, determine root causes, and implement corrective actions
- Mentor mechanical engineers and review their design and analysis work
- Support aircraft assembly, integration, ground testing, and flight testing

## REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

- Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field
- 7 or more years of relevant mechanical, structural, or aerospace engineering experience
- Experience designing primary aircraft structures or large composite airframes
- Experience with bonded composite structures, sandwich panels, bonded inserts, and hybrid composite-metallic assemblies
- Experience with aircraft mechanisms, actuation systems, control surfaces, doors, landing gear, or deployable systems
- Knowledge of composite failure criteria, buckling, fatigue, vibration, modal analysis, or damage tolerance
- Experience taking safety-critical hardware from concept through manufacturing and testing
- Strong proficiency with CAD software such as Fusion, SolidWorks, CATIA, NX, or Creo
- Strong proficiency with finite element analysis tools such as ANSYS, Nastran, Abaqus, Fusion Simulation, or similar
- Ability to verify analysis using hand calculations and first-principles methods
- Strong understanding of structural mechanics, load paths, joint design, material behavior, and mechanical failure modes
- Experience applying GD&T and mechanical tolerancing to production drawings
- Experience designing for manufacturing, assembly, inspection, maintenance, and repair
- Experience leading technical reviews and making design decisions across multiple engineering teams
- Comfortable working directly with aircraft hardware, prototypes, test fixtures, and shop tools

## PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

- Experience designing structures for marine environments
- Experience developing structural test plans, fixtures, instrumentation, and acceptance criteria
- Familiarity with FAA certification, military airworthiness, or experimental flight-test programs
- Proficiency with MATLAB or Python for engineering analysis
- Experience with product lifecycle management and configuration control systems

Candidates who are not yet qualified for a Lead position may apply to our Mechanical Engineer openings.

## WHAT YOU GET FROM US

- Competitive salary and meaningful early-stage equity
- Relocation support if applicable
- Employee Health Benefit Plans
- 6% Retirement matching
- Flexible PTO
- Free lunches, snacks, and a stocked fridge at our offices
- AI tools and subscriptions

## About Poseidon Aerospace

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Poseidon Aerospace is reimagining logistics with autonomous aircraft built to move goods faster, cheaper, and anywhere they are needed, fundamentally changing the cost curve for air freight.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Startup)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, United States
- **Founded**: Not publicly available
- **Founders**: David Zagaynov (CEO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Aerospace, Aviation, and Defense Logistics
- **Target customers**: Government/Defense (military logistics), Commercial logistics providers, and Enterprise supply chains
- **Mission**: To make air logistics as affordable and flexible as possible by driving the cost per ton-mile down to levels never before achieved in aviation, building the unmanned backbone of tomorrow's logistics.

## Products & Services
- **Seagull (Unmanned Cargo Aircraft)**: An autonomous, unmanned cargo drone designed to lift two tons. The aircraft is a seaplane, requiring no airports or runways—only water—to operate. This unlocks millions of miles of navigable waterways for logistics. The platform is built from the ground up as a clean-sheet design, leveraging composites and advanced manufacturing.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available
- **Total Funding**: $12.4 million USD
- **Funding Rounds**:
    - Pre-Seed: Led by Starship Ventures (1 investor)
    - Seed (2025-01-01): $1.4M from 2 investors
    - Seed (2025-11-01): $11.0M from 7 investors, led by Tamarack Global
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Tamarack Global (Lead), Starship Ventures, Sean Hoge (Lead Investor)
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount grew +366.7% year-over-year to 20 employees; actively hiring for high-impact roles; secured a partnership with Northeastern’s Roux Institute and their National Security Innovation Hub to expand presence in Maine; FY2026 NDAA includes a provision for a pilot program for contracted amphibious aircraft, validating the market.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Seaplane Design**: The aircraft requires no airports or runways, only water, unlocking millions of miles of navigable waterways and making logistics possible in remote, contested, or infrastructure-poor regions.
- **Cost Curve Disruption**: By driving down the cost per flight-ton-mile, Poseidon aims to make air cargo as affordable as ground or maritime transport, a fundamental shift in logistics economics.
- **Defense & Government Focus**: The company is strategically aligned with U.S. national security priorities, specifically "contested logistics" as highlighted by the Department of Defense, giving it a clear and funded customer base.
- **Speed & Agility**: As a small, focused team (20 employees), the company claims to move with immense speed, building clean-sheet autonomous planes from scratch using advanced composites and manufacturing techniques.

## Strategic Focus
- **Scaling the Team**: Actively hiring across engineering, operations, and government relations to support rapid growth (headcount up +366.7% YoY).
- **Government & Defense Contracts**: Winning contracts is a core focus, with a dedicated Proposal Lead role and a Director of Government Relations position. The company is positioning itself to be a key player in the U.S. military's "contested logistics" strategy.
- **Expanding Manufacturing & Presence**: Partnering with Northeastern’s Roux Institute in Maine to build a presence in a region with a deep aerospace heritage and access to a national security innovation hub.
- **Product Development**: Building and iterating on the "Seagull" unmanned cargo aircraft, with a focus on composites and clean-sheet design.

## Why Work Here
- **High-Impact, Early-Stage Environment**: The company has grown from 4 to 20 people in a short period, offering the chance to build foundational systems and processes from the ground up.
- **Cutting-Edge Technology**: Work on clean-sheet autonomous aircraft, advanced composites, and manufacturing engineering in a fast-paced, iterative environment.
- **Mission-Driven**: The work directly impacts national security and global logistics, with a clear, compelling mission to make air cargo as affordable as ground transport.
- **Culture & Perks**: On-site work in San Francisco, CA. The company emphasizes a "punch above its weight" culture with a focus on engineering excellence and speed. Active hiring for high-impact roles across engineering, operations, and government relations.
- **Recent Growth**: The team has grown from 4 to 20 people in a short period, offering significant ownership and career growth opportunities for early employees.

## Sources
1. [poseidonaero.com](https://www.poseidonaero.com/)
2. [LinkedIn - Poseidon Aerospace](https://www.linkedin.com/company/poseidon-aerospace)
3. [Built In - Poseidon Aerospace](https://builtin.com/company/poseidon-aerospace)
4. [Ashby - Poseidon Aerospace Jobs](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/poseidonaero)

## Other roles at Poseidon Aerospace

- [Senior Recruiter](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-recruiter-poseidon-aerospace-alameda-8n3y3p2ks94f) — Alameda
- [Propulsion Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/propulsion-engineer-poseidon-aerospace-alameda-j764pv1hrkqc) — Alameda
- [Proposal Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/proposal-lead-poseidon-aerospace-washington-fy2rdhdr2w3v) — Washington, DC
- [Pilot](https://feeny.ai/job/pilot-poseidon-aerospace-alameda-7r9ygx47zmpp) — Alameda
- [Operations Associate](https://feeny.ai/job/operations-associate-poseidon-aerospace-alameda-b79xt48vnsjy) — Alameda
- [Mechanical Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/mechanical-engineer-poseidon-aerospace-alameda-pr6p7816nv70) — Alameda
- [Manufacturing Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/manufacturing-engineer-poseidon-aerospace-alameda-5gqg860wyvxs) — Alameda
- [Maine Composites Bridge](https://feeny.ai/job/maine-composites-bridge-poseidon-aerospace-alameda-dpk4eetefz67) — Alameda
- [Head of Finance](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-finance-poseidon-aerospace-alameda-t4js5ys7mnfg) — Alameda
- [GNC Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/gnc-engineer-poseidon-aerospace-alameda-3rfbvjesjenj) — Alameda