Senior Manager, Loads & Dynamics

About the role

You will build and lead the Loads & Dynamics function that defines the forces the Seaglider must withstand and ensures those definitions are technically sound and certifiable. You will own the methodologies, assumptions, and datasets that drive structural design, inform flight physics, and underpin regulatory compliance for the vehicle. This role blends player and coach as you contribute directly to technical work while scaling a high-performing team over time. You will establish a single, defensible source of truth for loads that unites Structures, Flight Physics, and Certification across the program. Success means the organization operates from a consistent loads basis that supports both design integrity and regulator engagement from day one. If you are energized by cutting-edge innovation, real-world impact, and hands-on engineering, this is the place to make it happen.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Build and Lead the Loads & Dynamics Function: Establish the team from the ground up by defining standards, operating cadence, and technical expectations while hiring, mentoring, and developing engineers. Act as a player-coach, contributing directly to technical work while scaling the function.
• Define the Vehicle Loads Basis: Develop a coherent, traceable set of load cases across all operating modes and environmental conditions, establishing the operating envelope and ensuring loads assumptions are consistent, controlled, and clearly communicated.
• Own Dynamics and Aero/Hydroelastic Approach: Define how the program addresses flutter risk, modal behavior, and dynamic response, including analysis methods, GVT strategy, and how coupling effects are incorporated into loads and verification activities.
• Establish Loads Validation and Integration: Define how simulation, structural models, and test data come together, building processes for CFD-to-loads mapping, FEM integration, and correlation between predicted and measured loads.
• Enable Certification Through Defensible Methods: Develop the compliance approach for loads and dynamics, including assumptions, traceability, and required evidence, while producing certification-ready artifacts and supporting technical discussions with regulators and classification bodies.
• Drive Cross-Functional Alignment: Partner with Structures and Flight Physics to define clear interfaces, resolve gaps, and maintain a single source of truth for loads across the organization through collaboration and clear ownership.
• Establish Verification and Test Planning: Define verification strategies that connect analysis, simulation, and physical testing, specifying test types, acceptance criteria, and data correlation methods to validate loads predictions.
• Own Technical Documentation and Traceability: Create and maintain the Vehicle Loads Document and related artifacts, ensuring traceability from requirements through analysis, assumptions, and certification evidence in a scalable format.
• Mentor and Develop Engineers: Build a strong technical foundation for the team by mentoring engineers in loads methodology, best practices, and regulatory expectations to elevate capability and consistency.
• Lead Risk and Assumptions Management: Identify, track, and manage key assumptions and risks in the loads basis, ensuring transparent decision-making and proactive resolution across engineering and program stakeholders.
• Support Early-Stage Concept and Trade Studies: Provide loads and dynamics input into early vehicle concepts and trade studies, enabling informed decisions on configurations and operating envelopes.
• Establish Analytical Baselines and Standards: Define baseline methods, tools, and standards for loads and dynamics analysis that are robust, repeatable, and defensible for both internal use and regulatory review.

Requirements

You must have deep loads and dynamics expertise for complex aerospace, maritime, or hybrid vehicles, including ownership of load cases used for structural design and certification. You must have experience building or directly contributing to a Vehicle Loads Document (or equivalent) with clear traceability to requirements and use in substantiation and certification. You must demonstrate leadership and team-building experience by leading technical teams, setting direction, mentoring engineers, and building a high-performing group in early-stage or scaling environments. You must possess a strong foundation in aeroelasticity and structural dynamics, including experience with flutter risk identification, modal analysis, dynamic response, and test planning such as GVT, and understand how these influence loads definition. You must have experience in regulated, certification-driven environments, working with certification or classification bodies such as FAA, EASA, or Lloyd's Register, and developing compliance approaches and supporting technical discussions. You must be comfortable working with complex analytical models, simulation tools, and data correlation methods to validate loads predictions and ensure technical soundness. You must communicate clearly and persuasively with both technical and regulatory audiences, producing defensible documentation and facilitating productive engagement with authorities. You must be highly organized, able to manage multiple priorities, and maintain rigorous traceability across loads cases, requirements, and certification evidence in a fast-paced development environment.