Mechanical Engineer, Routed Systems

Swarm Aero is seeking a Mechanical Engineer for Routed Systems to design and develop aircraft electrical systems, including power distribution, wire harness routing, and load analysis. The role involves integrating avionics devices into the airframe, defining interface requirements, and maintaining schematics and wiring diagrams. You will collaborate with structures and systems teams to ensure electrical routing and EMI/EMC compliance, and support flight test anomaly investigations. This position is critical to building autonomous UAV swarms that operate reliably in contested environments.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop aircraft electrical systems including power distribution, wire harness routing, connector selection, and load analysis
• Work with the mechanical team to integrate avionics devices and cabling into the airframe by specifying or creating necessary mounts, brackets, and shelving
• Define avionics interface requirements and integration approach for avionics routed systems
• Develop and maintain electrical schematics, wiring diagrams, and ICDs using appropriate design tools
• Collaborate with structures, mechanical, and systems engineering teams to ensure electrical routing, grounding, shielding, and EMI/EMC requirements are met
• Support flight test anomaly investigation and drive root cause analysis on avionics and electrical faults
• Contribute to airworthiness documentation and flight authorization packages

Requirements

• 3+ years of avionics or aircraft electrical engineering experience on aerospace, defense, or UAS platforms
• Hands-on experience with aircraft electrical system design including power distribution, wire harness design, and load analysis
• Strong familiarity with aerospace connector families, cable families, and aerospace wiring practices.
• Proficiency with wiring harness design tools such as Zuken, Capital, Artifact, or equivalent
• Proficiency with cable routing tools such as Solidworks/Catia Electrical, NX Electrical, CreoParametric, or equivalent
• Experience taking avionics or electrical systems from design through hardware integration and flight test
• Comfortable working across hardware, software, and test disciplines in a fast-moving environment
• US person status required; active security clearance a plus

Nice to have

• Experience specifically on UAS or unmanned aircraft programs
• Experience scripting the interface between electrical wiring schematic and mechanical CAD routing tool with Python or other languages
• Background in MIL-STD-461 testing, EMI/EMC analysis and mitigation on flight vehicles
• Familiarity with DO160 electrical sections, MIL-STD-704, AS50881, and related standards
• Familiarity with IPC/WHMA-A-620 harness acceptance standards
• Exposure to defense programs or military airworthiness processes
• Sheet-metal or composites design experience (professional or hobby)
• PCB design or embedded electronics background (professional or hobby)
• Scripting experience

Benefits

• Meaningful equity in a high-growth defense technology company
• Competitive base salary commensurate with experience
• Medical, dental, vision, and 401k
• PTO and paid sick leave
• Monthly wellness stipend
• Daily catered lunch (office)
• Paid parental leave
• Direct impact on a critical national security mission
• A world-class team of engineers and operators solving genuinely hard problems