Soma Capital Portfolio Jobs

Flight Test Engineer

Odys Aviation

Odys Aviation

Software Engineering, Quality Assurance
Long Beach, CA, USA
Posted on Tuesday, November 14, 2023
At Odys, we’re building an advanced vertical takeoff and landing hybrid aircraft for major airlines. This will cut travel time in half on the world’s busiest routes by using city helipads and local airports. More than 40% of all flights worldwide are less than 1,000 miles - let’s skip the airport and make these routes sustainable. Check out our intro video and TechCrunch article for more details.
We’re a team of expert engineers from deep tech and aerospace, working to remove the hassles of flying and reduce CO2 emissions for travelers globally. Previously, our team has built and flown custom drones. We’ve brought multiple automotive platforms into production. We’ve electrified transportation vehicles that magnetically levitate, that roll, that fly. Together, we’ve been learning, developing, building, testing, and preparing for this challenge our entire lives.
Are you passionate about making the future of aviation more sustainable and usable? Can you apply your broad understanding of physics to build models and predict and verify aircraft behavior? Do you want to join a talented team, furthering your engineering abilities and driving innovation at a crucial stage in the development life cycle of our products?
As flight test engineer you will be responsible for the design and successful execution of our unmanned flight test campaigns. You will be closely interfacing with the design and manufacturing teams as well as site operators and airspace authorities. You will be closely involved in many aspects of the design and test process, supporting the team with your unique abilities.

Your Responsibilities

  • Plan and coordinate assembly and build of subscale aircraft
  • Support integration of avionics and instrumentation
  • Develop and execute test plans for ground and flight testing
  • Provide guidance on best practices and methods for meeting test objectives
  • Coordinate flight test campaigns, including team management and logistics
  • Direct flight tests, including analyzing and solving problems that may occur during testing
  • Manage all aspects of safety during testing activities
  • Write test reports and communicate test results

Your Qualifications

  • 2+ years of experience testing unmanned aircraft
  • Engineering degree in aerospace, mechanical or related fields
  • Good understanding of aircraft performance and flight mechanics
  • Current FAA Part 107 license
  • Able to work with minimal supervision in a fast-paced environment
  • Ready to 'wear multiple hats' to bring our projects to fruition

Your Bonus Skills

  • Proficiency piloting fixed wing and rotary wing RC aircraft
  • Experience testing large-scale unmanned aircraft
  • Experience testing vertical take-off and landing aircraft
  • Skilled in test data analysis (e.g. in Python or MATLAB)