Haast Autonomous is building an autonomous aircraft network for time-sensitive medical logistics. We’re developing long-range VTOL aircraft, autonomy software, and the operational foundation needed to move critical payloads between hospitals, labs, and healthcare facilities on-demand faster and more reliably.

We’re early, small, and moving quickly. Joining Haast means more than filling a role — it means helping set the company culture and the foundation for how we build aircraft, runs flight tests, designs safety systems, works with healthcare partners, and turns prototypes into a real logistics network.

We’re looking for high-agency people who want ownership, urgency, and system-level impact from day one.

About the Role

As an Aerospace Simulation & Flight Test Engineer at Haast, you’ll connect aircraft physics, simulation, flight-test planning, and real-world data.

You’ll help us understand how the aircraft should perform, how it actually performs, and what we need to change next. This role is not analysis in a vacuum. You’ll build useful models, create test plans, compare predictions against flight data, and help the team make practical design decisions.

The goal is simple: make every prototype, simulation, and flight test teach us something useful.

What You’ll Do

Build and maintain aircraft performance models for fixed-wing VTOL prototypes.
Analyze range, endurance, climb, cruise, stall speed, stability, control authority, and payload tradeoffs.
Support aircraft sizing, configuration decisions, and design trades.
Use tools like XFLR5, OpenVSP, AVL, MATLAB, Python, JSBSim, Gazebo, or similar.
Support SITL/HITL workflows connected to ArduPilot, PX4, or similar systems.
Create flight-test cards, test plans, success criteria, and post-test summaries.
Analyze flight logs and compare real aircraft behavior against model predictions.
Help diagnose whether issues are coming from aerodynamics, controls, structure, propulsion, sensors, or operations.
Turn flight-test data into practical engineering recommendations.
Work closely with mechanical, avionics, controls, and operations teams.
Document assumptions, models, results, and engineering decisions.
Help build the modeling, testing, and validation foundation for a scalable autonomous aircraft network.

What We’re Looking For

Strong understanding of aircraft performance, stability, flight mechanics, and test planning.
Experience with UAVs, fixed-wing aircraft, VTOL aircraft, or flight-test programs.
Ability to use simulation and analysis to support real hardware decisions.
Strong Python, MATLAB, or similar data-analysis skills.
Familiarity with tools like XFLR5, OpenVSP, AVL, JSBSim, Gazebo, or related aerospace/simulation tools.
Comfortable reading flight logs and pulling out useful conclusions.
Good engineering judgment around assumptions, uncertainty, and model limits.
Ability to create simple, practical test plans that help the team learn quickly.
Comfortable working in a startup environment where models need to meet reality fast.

Nice to Have

Experience with ArduPilot, PX4, MAVLink, Mission Planner, or QGroundControl.
Experience with SITL/HITL simulation for UAVs.
Experience with fixed-wing VTOL transition behavior.
Experience with propulsion modeling, propeller selection, battery sizing, or hybrid-electric aircraft.
Experience with CFD, wind tunnel testing, scaled aircraft testing, or flight-test instrumentation.
Experience with FAA test environments, BVLOS preparation, aviation safety documentation, or operational risk analysis.

What Success Looks Like

Within your first month, you’ll understand the aircraft configuration, build a useful baseline model, review available flight data, and define near-term test objectives.

Within three months, Haast should have a clear simulation and flight-test feedback loop where models, logs, and prototype changes are all connected.

The output is not a pretty report. The output is a better aircraft and a smarter next test.

Who You Are

You like connecting theory to reality. You care about whether the model matches the aircraft, whether the test was designed well, and whether the next version will fly better because of what we learned.

You know when analysis is useful, when it’s overkill, and when the team needs to just go test.

Location

This role may include both analysis work and onsite flight-test support. Regular onsite presence near the aircraft and test team is strongly preferred, especially during major test campaigns.

Compensation

Competitive cash compensation plus meaningful early-stage equity. Final compensation will depend on experience, seniority, and role structure.

How to Apply

Send your resume and a short note about aircraft modeling, simulation, or flight-test work you’ve done. Include examples of simulations, flight-test plans, data analysis, UAV projects, aircraft sizing work, or performance models you personally contributed to.

Aerospace Simulation & Flight Test Engineer