Founding Flight Controls Engineer

Apera
San Francisco, US
On-siteVisa Sponsorship

Job Description

Join a company building personal eVTOL aircraft to make true door-to-door flight practical and accessible. Starting with subscale VTOL systems, they’re rapidly iterating toward certified two-seat aircraft and beyond.

The small, high-calibre team includes engineers from leading aerospace and hardware programs, backed by experienced investors and operators. They move fast, test in the real world, and focus on solving hard, meaningful problems in aviation.

As a founding engineer, you’ll own the flight control architecture from early prototypes through to full-scale aircraft.

You’ll be responsible for the vehicle’s behaviour across hover, transition, and cruise - spanning control systems, state estimation, and pilot feel - while balancing rapid iteration with safety-critical design principles.

What You’ll Do

  • Design and implement flight control systems across the full flight envelope
  • Lead transition analysis (hover ↔ cruise), including worst-case control scenarios
  • Build and own simulation environments for system validation
  • Define safety architecture: redundancy, fault detection, and recovery
  • Collaborate across structures and avionics for robust system performance
  • Debug real-world flight issues and iterate quickly from test data

Why Join

  • Own a critical system from day one
  • Work on real flying hardware with rapid iteration cycles
  • Help shape the future of personal aviation
  • Competitive salary + meaningful equity
  • Medical benefits included

Please feel free to apply even if your skillset isn't an exact match to requirements, as the team is small - there could be other areas you could support the mission!

Employment Type

FULL TIME

Level

senior

Posted

4/9/2026

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