Astr Defence
Website:
astrdefence.com
Company:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/astrdefence
Industries: Defense and Space Manufacturing
Job details:
Aerospace Design Engineer – Rocket
Location: Hubli, Karnataka
Experience: 3–8 years
Employment Type: Full-time, on-site
Read this first
This role is for engineers who have personally designed, built and flight-tested a real rocket. If your experience is in software/IT systems, MEP, or outsourced CAD-services work, this is not the role — please don't apply. We are looking for hands-on builders, not model-makers.
About the Role
Astr Defence is looking for an Aerospace Design Engineer to design, build and flight-test compact high-performance aerial vehicles from concept through working prototype.
You will own the physical vehicle: its configuration, aerodynamic surfaces, structures, mechanisms and packaging. This is a hands-on role that runs from initial sizing and engineering analysis through detailed design, fabrication, assembly, ground and flight testing, failure investigation and rapid design iteration. You will build new systems where established solutions may not exist, in a fast-moving environment with aggressive cycles and repeated design–build–test loops.
What You'll Be Doing
- Develop aerial-vehicle concepts from requirements through functional prototypes
- Carry out vehicle configuration, preliminary sizing and airframe architecture
- Design lightweight airframes, aerodynamic surfaces, internal structures and load-bearing components
- Perform aerodynamic and stability assessment — drag, lift, control-surface effectiveness, centre of gravity vs centre of pressure, mass distribution
- Design control surfaces, hinges, linkages, deployment and locking mechanisms, actuator mounts and compact electromechanical assemblies
- Integrate avionics, power, sensors and other subsystems within tightly constrained internal volumes
- Conduct structural, vibration, thermal and load analysis using appropriate tools
- Build prototypes using CNC machining, composites, sheet metal and additive manufacturing
- Prepare manufacturing drawings, GD&T, tolerance stack-ups, BOMs and assembly documentation
- Support ground and flight testing, data review, failure investigation and corrective design changes
- Help transition working prototypes into rugged, repeatable, manufacturable products
Mandatory Requirements
- 3–8 years of hands-on aerospace/mechanical product-development experience
- Professional experience developing flight vehicles or aerial platforms (fixed-wing UAVs, VTOL, target drones, loitering platforms, or similar) in a company or startup setting
- Demonstrated experience taking hardware from concept through prototype, assembly and flight/field test
- Strong proficiency in professional CAD (SolidWorks, CATIA, Creo, Fusion 360 or equivalent)
- Working knowledge of aerodynamics, airframe configuration, stability and mass-properties management
- Working knowledge of CFD/FEA and analysis tools (ANSYS, OpenFOAM, XFLR5, MATLAB or equivalents)
- Strong grasp of GD&T, fits, tolerance stack-ups, materials and manufacturing processes
- Practical experience with CNC machining, composites, sheet metal, 3D printing and assembly
- Ability to independently troubleshoot mechanical and multidisciplinary integration problems
- Evidence of vehicles or subsystems you personally designed, built and tested
Strongly Preferred
- Experience with high-speed aerial vehicles or boosted/short-duration flight regimes
- Experience with model rockets, experimental rockets, rocketry-club projects or other flight-vehicle programmes
- Understanding of flight dynamics, stability and control fundamentals
- Experience designing control surfaces, aerodynamic mechanisms, actuator systems or compact servo assemblies
- Experience with composite airframes, aerodynamic moulds and lightweight aerospace structures
- Experience conducting or supporting vehicle ground and flight trials
- Exposure to defence or aerospace product-development programmes
- Familiarity with MIL standards, environmental testing and design-verification practices
What We Expect
This role demands ownership, curiosity, engineering discipline and persistence. You will be expected to:
Design · Analyse · Build · Test · Break · Diagnose · Improve · Repeat
Failed prototypes and development setbacks are part of the work. What matters is finding the real root cause and moving quickly toward a vehicle that works.
Why Join Astr Defence
- Own complete concept-to-flight development of advanced aerial hardware
- Solve hard, real, multidisciplinary engineering problems
- Work directly with embedded, electronics, controls and manufacturing teams
- Receive meaningful ownership of real hardware and engineering decisions
- Build products intended for demanding operational environments
- Contribute directly to indigenous defence technology
About Astr Defence
Astr Defence is a new-age Indian defence technology company developing next-generation weapon systems, ammunition, defence electronics, air-defence systems and Counter-UAS technologies. We build physical products, test them under real conditions, and continuously improve them until they work.
Click on Apply to know more.