About Nordic Air Defence

Nordic Air Defence is a hardware-software company building Counter-UAS technology for both commercial and defence customers. We build high-speed kinetic drone interceptors, at low cost and at scale. Our technology protects people and assets. We are a world-class team from Acast, Zipline, Palantir, McKinsey, Kratos, Katla Aero, SAAB, Quantum-Systems, FOI, FMV and other Swedish national security agencies.

The Role

We are looking for an Aerospace Engineer to help design, simulate, and optimize our next-generation interceptor drones. You’ll own aerodynamic analysis, subsystem integration, and performance modeling across the vehicle flight envlope. From CFD to field testing, your work will directly shape high-performance, low-cost airframes intended for real-world missions.

Responsibilities

• Aerodynamic Database Development: Build and maintain a comprehensive aerodynamic database for vehicle dynamic simulators, leveraging VLM, CFD tools, wind tunnel results, and empirical correlations to capture 6 DOF static and dynamic aerodyanmic coefficients.
• Wind Tunnel Testing & Data Processing: Design and prioritize a wind tunnel test matrix, coordinate instrumentation/calibration (pressure ports, force balances, flow visualization), validate data quality, and perform post-test data reduction efforts to ensure accurate aerodynamic characterization.
• Flight Dynamics Simulation: Develop and refine flight-dynamics models, including stability and control derivative estimation, performance prediction, and integration of aerodynamic data into MATLAB/Simulink/Python or equivalent simulation environments.
• Full-System HIL/SIL Integration: Configure and validate hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) and software-in-the-loop (SIL) simulation frameworks to verify end-to-end system performance, latency requirements, and real-time model fidelity.
• Flight Test Support: Plan, coordinate, and execute flight test maneuvers specifically tailored to validate aerodynamic and propulsion models, dynamic stability and control analysis, and oversee flight sensor calibration (air data probes, IMUs, strain gauges etc).
• Support flight testing: develop, plan, and execute flight test maneuvers tailored to acquire quality flight data for validating aerodynamic, propulsion, and flight-dynamics models.
• Control Law Development: Define requirements for flight control systems, implement and tune control algorithms (e.g., PID, LQR, gain-scheduled, state-space methods) in simulation, and validate handling qualities against flight data and assess stability and controllability margins.
• Airframe and Propulsion Trade Studies: Conduct multidisciplinary trade analyses comparing airframe configurations and propulsion options, using aerodynamic performance metrics and mission profiles to inform selection and optimization decisions.
• Collaborate with mechanical and control engineers to integrate design decisions.
• Conduct trade studies to inform airframe and propulsion selection.
• Optimize aerodynamic and structural performance under mission constraints.
• Support design-for-manufacturing decisions (composites, 3D printing, machining).

Requirements (Required)

• Degree in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering (BSc required, MSc preferred).
• Aerodynamic Modeling & Analysis: Proficiency with aerodynamic solvers (Vortex Lattice Method, CFD packages such as ANSYS, STAR-CCM+, OpenFOAM or SimScale), plus experience interpreting and correlating wind tunnel data for database development.
• Simulation Development: Strong background in 6 DOF flight-dynamics theory (stability, control and performance prediction) and hands-on experience building/tuning models in MATLAB/Simulink or equivalent environments. Familiarity with hardware-in-the-loop and software-in-the-loop frameworks to validate full-system simulation performance against real-time constraints.
• System Identification & Validation: Expertise in system-ID techniques (time- and frequency-domain) to extract aerodynamic parameters from flight-test data, validate model fidelity, and iteratively update the simulator database.
• Flight Test: Demonstrated experience planning and executing flight-test maneuvers, configuring data acquisition systems (air data probes, IMUs), and ensuring synchronized, high-sample‐rate logging for simulation model validation.
• Data Analysis & Scripting: Experience in MATLAB, Simulink, or Python for time-series processing, statistical analysis, model tuning, and automated report generation.
• Trade Study & Optimization: Capability to conduct multidisciplinary trade studies (airframe versus propulsion), perform aerodynamic/structural optimization under mission constraints, and translate findings into actionable design requirements.
• Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration: Strong communication and teamwork skills to interface effectively with mechanical, avionics, and control-systems engineers—ensuring aerodynamic, structural, and systems decisions remain aligned throughout development.
• Fluent in English, both written and spoken.
• Future eligibility for NATO security clearance.

Requirements (Nice-to-have)

• Experience with UAV or RC aircraft design.
• Background in control systems or autopilots (PX4, ArduPilot, etc.)
• Hands-on experience in prototype testing or wind tunnel experiments.
• Prior work in the aerospace or defence sector.
• UAV pilot certification.

Ethics & Security

Developing dual-use technology, that can be used in military contexts, requires deliberate and constant consideration of ethics. At Nordic Air Defence, ethics comes first in all engineering discussions we make. We consider our choice of customers carefully, and implement rigorous safeguards to ensure our technology is used as intended.

Our interview process involves a security background screening.

Contact Information

Apply today via nordicairdefence.com. We do not accept consultants and are not interested in recruiters or agencies. For questions, please contact us at info@nordicairdefence.com.