Simulation / FEA Engineer
About Us
Harmattan AI is a next-generation defense prime building autonomous and scalable defense systems. Following the close of a $200M Series B, valuing the company at $1.4 billion, we are expanding our teams and capabilities to deliver mission-critical systems to allied forces.
Our work is guided by clear values: building technologies with real-world impact, pursuing excellence in everything we do, setting ambitious goals, and taking on the hardest technical challenges. We operate in a demanding environment where rigor, ownership, and execution are expected.
About the Role
As a Simulation / Mechanical Analysis Engineer on Harmattan AI's Airframe team, you will be the reference for structural, vibration and impact simulation. Your mission is to replace our current trial-and-error loop with a predictive, simulation-driven approach: model the dynamic behaviour of our carbon / plastic / aluminium assemblies, pinpoint the critical zones, and guide design changes before we build and fly. You will also build the tools, templates and methodology that allow the rest of the team to run reliable first-order analyses autonomously. This is primarily a simulation role, with a meaningful share of hands-on design to implement and validate your own recommendations.
Responsibilities
Carbon chassis analysis & optimisation: Analyse and optimise carbon chassis (priority: quadcopter platforms) - stiffness, mass, resonance - and act as a performance safeguard to prevent regressions across projects.
Modal & vibration analysis: Perform modal (eigenfrequency) and harmonic/random vibration analyses on carbon-composite, plastic and aluminium assemblies to identify natural frequencies, mode shapes and resonance risks relative to operating excitations (motors, props, flight loads).
Crash / shock & impact analysis: Perform dynamic / explicit simulations of crash, shock and impact events (drop tests, crash and impact scenarios) on composite and metallic structures - predicting deformation, damage and failure, and defining design changes to improve survivability and qualify structural limits.
Structural FEA: Run static, stiffness, fatigue and failure analyses to support design decisions and de-risk new concepts early.
Composite materials & failure: Apply solid knowledge of composite materials (carbon laminates, anisotropy, delamination and damage/failure criteria) to model both quasi-static and impact behaviour realistically.
Carbon-composite modelling: Build representative models of laminated / pultruded carbon structures (ply orientation, anisotropy, bonded and bolted joints) and correlate them against physical tests.
Test correlation: Define and run validation tests (modal hammer / accelerometers / shaker, drop / impact tests, flight data) and correlate simulation vs. measurement to continuously improve model fidelity.
Design-to-target: Translate simulation results into concrete design changes (geometry, stiffeners, material, joints) and implement part of them yourself in CAD; iterate with the design owners.
Tooling & methodology: Develop reusable tools, scripts, templates and calculation sheets so the team can run first-order modal/structural checks autonomously, and document the simulation methodology as the team's source of truth.
Cross-functional work: Collaborate with the design, electronics and industrialisation teams to feed simulation insight into the product, and maintain documentation on Confluence.
Candidate Requirements
Master's degree in Mechanical / Aerospace Engineering, Structural Mechanics, or a related field.
Proven experience in FEA, with a strong focus on modal / vibration / dynamic analysis (e.g., Ansys, Abaqus, Nastran, OptiStruct, COMSOL, or similar).
Solid grounding in structural dynamics and vibration theory (natural frequencies, mode shapes, damping, resonance, FRF).
Experience in crash / shock / impact simulation (explicit dynamics - e.g. Ansys LS-DYNA, Abaqus/Explicit, Radioss or similar) for drop-test, crash and impact scenarios, including strain-rate and failure modelling.
Strong knowledge of composite materials (carbon-fibre laminates, anisotropy, layups, joints, and damage / delamination / failure criteria), applied to both vibration and impact behaviour.
Ability to correlate simulation with physical testing (modal testing, accelerometers, shaker, drop / impact tests, flight data) and judge model validity critically - not just trust the solver output.
Working proficiency in CAD (SolidWorks preferred) to implement and adjust designs based on analysis.
Scripting / automation skills (Python, MATLAB, or APDL) to build tools and parametric studies for the team.
Rigour, ownership and clear documentation habits; able to challenge results and explain them simply to non-specialists.
Full commitment to Harmattan AI's mission, vision, and growth plans.
We look forward to hearing how you can help shape the future of autonomous defense systems at Harmattan AI.