Senior Research Scientist, Prime Air Flight Sciences Vehicle Design & Test

How do you get items to customers quickly, cost-effectively, and—most importantly—safely, in less than an hour? And how do you do it in a way that can scale? Our teams of hundreds of scientists, engineers, aerospace professionals, and futurists have been working hard to do just that! We are delivering to customers, and are excited for what’s to come. Check out more information about Prime Air on the About Amazon blog (https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/transportation/amazon-prime-air-delivery-drone-reveal-photos).

If you are seeking an iterative environment where you can drive innovation, apply state-of-the-art technologies to solve real world delivery challenges, and provide benefits to customers, Prime Air is the place for you.

Come work on the Amazon Prime Air Team!

Our Prime Air Drone Vehicle Design and Test team within Flight Sciences is looking for an outstanding engineer to help us rapidly configure, design, analyze, prototype, and test innovative drone vehicles. You’ll be responsible for developing, improving, and maintaining a suite of multi-disciplinary optimization (MDO) tools across all aircraft design disciplines. You’ll use these to explore new and novel drone vehicle conceptual designs in both focused and wide open design spaces, with the ultimate goal of meeting our customer requirements. You’ll have the opportunity to prototype vehicle designs and support wind tunnel and other testing of vehicle designs. You will directly support the Office of the Chief Program Engineer, and work closely across all vehicle subsystem teams to ensure integrated designs that meet performance, reliability, operability, manufacturing, and cost requirements. In addition, you’ll own the Flight Sciences assessments and analysis methods for the drone vehicle design as it progresses through later stages of development.

About the team
Our Flight Sciences Vehicle Design & Test organization includes teams that span the following disciplines: Aerodynamics, Performance, Stability & Control, Configuration & Spatial Integration, Loads, Structures, Mass Properties, Multi-disciplinary Optimization (MDO), Wind Tunnel Testing, Noise Testing, Flight Test Instrumentation, and Rapid Prototyping.

We are open to hiring candidates to work out of one of the following locations:

Seattle, WA, USA

Basic Qualifications

– Bachelors Degree in aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, physics and 5+ years experience or equivalent
– Experience with flight vehicle design, simulation, and development
– Proficient with at least one modern programming language (e.g. C++, Python, Java, VBA)

Preferred Qualifications

– Master’s or PHD in aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, physics or equivalent
– 3+ years experience in conceptual air vehicle configuration layout, design, and optimization (preferably electric propulsion)
– 3+ years of experience in conceptual air vehicle design building and using multi-disciplinary analysis & optimization (MDO/MDAO) tools and methods
– Vehicle level design intuition and ability to operate & analyze at the system-of-systems level
– Specialization in one or more of the following domains of aircraft design: aerodynamics, performance, stability & control, propulsion, loads, airframe structures
– Experience using: modeFRONTIER, Model Center, or OpenMDAO, and CATIA

Amazon is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace. Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, disability, age, or other legally protected status. For individuals with disabilities who would like to request an accommodation, please visit https://www.amazon.jobs/en/disability/us.

Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several US geographic markets. The base pay for this position ranges from $127,300/year in our lowest geographic market up to $247,600/year in our highest geographic market. Pay is based on a number of factors including market location and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Amazon is a total compensation company. Dependent on the position offered, equity, sign-on payments, and other forms of compensation may be provided as part of a total compensation package, in addition to a full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits. For more information, please visit https://www.aboutamazon.com/workplace/employee-benefits. This position will remain posted until filled. Applicants should apply via our internal or external career site.