Principal Engineer Applied Aerodynamics

ABOUT EDGE At EDGE bold ideas are engineered into technologies that protect, improve and save lives. Headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, EDGE is a leading advanced technology group working at the forefront of defence and emerging technologies. Spanning more than 35 specialised companies and multiple centres of excellence, we are purpose-built to move fast. Free from heavy legacy processes, we give our people the autonomy, accountability, and agility to bring breakthrough technologies from concept to reality. Based in Abu Dhabi, a globally connected hub at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, EDGE is home to a truly multicultural community where bold ideas thrive, and the future is shaped. Together, we are shaping the future. ABOUT THE ROLE The Principal Applied Aerodynamics Engineer shall demonstrate technical ownership, sound physical intuition, disciplined judgment, and accountability for the aerodynamic products assigned to the position. The engineer shall treat aerodynamic predictions as evidence with defined assumptions, uncertainty, configuration, and validity limits rather than as unquestionable numerical outputs. The engineer shall develop and maintain a mental model of the expected flow physics before reviewing computational or experimental results. RESPONSIBILITIES • Develop aerodynamic concepts and configuration solutions that support aircraft-level mission and performance requirements. • Evaluate candidate wing, tail, canard, fuselage, forebody, control-surface, nacelle, inlet, propulsion, and external-store arrangements. • Define aerodynamic requirements and design objectives for assigned configurations or work packages. • Establish appropriate aerodynamic analysis plans using analytical, empirical, computational, and experimental methods. • Develop and maintain aerodynamic geometry suitable for analysis, design optimization, wind-tunnel models, and aircraft definition. • Assess aerodynamic implications of outer-mold-line changes and manufacturing deviations. • Conduct aerodynamic analyses using handbook, empirical, lifting-line, vortex-lattice, panel, Euler, RANS, or higher-fidelity methods as appropriate. • Define CFD domains, meshes, boundary conditions, numerical schemes, turbulence models, transition assumptions, convergence requirements, and reporting criteria. • Conduct mesh-sensitivity, timestep-sensitivity, domain-sensitivity, and model-sensitivity studies. • Review surface pressures, flow topology, shocks, separation, wakes, vortices, and other physical evidence in addition to integrated coefficients. • Develop airfoil, wing, twist, camber, thickness, spanload, and tip-shape solutions. • Develop or assess high-lift systems and control-surface aerodynamic characteristics. • Perform aerodynamic drag breakdowns and identify credible drag-reduction opportunities. • Determine lift, drag, force, moment, stability, and control characteristics across the required flight envelope. • Assess nonlinear, high-angle-of-attack, post-stall, asymmetric, and control-saturation behavior where applicable. • Evaluate control effectiveness, aerodynamic balance, hinge moments, flow blanketing, and adverse aerodynamic interactions. • Support wing loading, thrust-to-weight, design lift coefficient, cruise condition, takeoff, landing, maneuver, and envelope trades. • Assess aerodynamic compatibility with mass properties and center-of-gravity ranges. • Support propulsion integration, including inlet, nacelle, propeller, exhaust, cooling-flow, and engine-out effects. • Assess the aerodynamic effects of landing gear, antennas, sensors, payloads, stores, gaps, steps, protuberances, and other installed features. • Define wind-tunnel objectives, model requirements, test matrices, instrumentation, corrections, repeatability requirements, and acceptance criteria. • Support wind-tunnel testing, monitor data quality, and direct changes to test priorities when evidence requires it. • Reduce and interpret wind-tunnel data, including relevant tares, blockage, wall, support, transition, deformation, and scale corrections. • Reconcile analytical, CFD, wind-tunnel, ground-test, supplier, and flight-test aerodynamic information. • Develop and maintain aerodynamic databases for Performance, Flight Qualities, Guidance and Control, Loads, Simulation, Safety, and Flight Test. • Define database conventions, reference quantities, independent variables, configuration identifiers, interpolation rules, uncertainty, and validity limits. • Maintain traceability between aerodynamic requirements, source data, geometry, analyses, tests, databases, and verification evidence. • Perform uncertainty, sensitivity, robustness, and design-of-experiments studies. • Support aerodynamic optimization and multidisciplinary design optimization. • Investigate aerodynamic anomalies, unexpected performance, control-effectiveness deficiencies, buffet, separation, or model-test discrepancies. • Support flight-test planning, test-point definition, aerodynamic parameter identification, and flight-data correlation BASIC QUALIFICATIONS • Bachelor s degree in Aerospace, Aeronautical, Mechanical, Applied Mathematics, Physics, Computational Engineering, or a closely related discipline. • Master s degree or PhD in Aerodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Aircraft Design, Experimental Aerodynamics, or a related field is preferred. • Typically 10 or more years of relevant aerospace or comparable applied-fluid-dynamics experience. •