Lead Vehicle Development Engineer (m/w/d)

About Bespin Technologies

Bespin Technologies GmbH is an early-stage aerospace company based in Gauting, just outside Munich. We are building Stratocraft, a High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) for persistent multi-domain monitoring, operating at 18 to 25 km altitude. Our architecture uses dynamic soaring to target loiter times beyond 60 days, and we are de-risking the concept through sub-scale flight prototypes.

We are a small founding team, working close to DLR Oberpfaffenhofen and the Munich aerospace cluster. The vehicle is still being defined. We are looking for the engineer who will define it.

The role

As Lead Vehicle Development Engineer you own the vehicle at whole-system level. You hold the coherent technical picture across aerodynamics, structures, propulsion and energy, and you make the architecture decisions the rest of the programme builds on. This is a founding engineering role with real authority over the design, not a subsystem post.

What you will own

• The physics. Develop and own the core physics-based models underpinning vehicle performance, energy management and operational envelope (Flugleistung, Energiemanagement), the models the whole programme reasons with.

• The architecture. Define the vehicle architecture and drive design decisions across structure, aerodynamics, propulsion and systems integration.

• The concepts. Lead concept development and feasibility assessment of novel vehicle architectures and enabling technologies (Vorentwurf, Konzeptentwicklung, Gesamtentwurf).

• The trade studies. Drive technology selection and configuration trade studies grounded in rigorous quantitative analysis, at vehicle and subsystem level.

• The systems view. Maintain a coherent systems-level view of the vehicle across all relevant physical domains, including aerodynamics, structures, propulsion and environmental interactions.

• Technical leadership. Provide leadership across vehicle-relevant engineering disciplines, ensuring coherence across subsystem teams and external partners.

• The conflicts. Identify and resolve cross-disciplinary conflicts and dependencies at design level, and identify and manage technical risk across the vehicle development programme.

• The team. Support the build-up of the engineering team, including hiring input, technical onboarding and mentoring.

What we are looking for

• Degree in aerospace or mechanical engineering or a closely related discipline (Luft- und Raumfahrttechnik, Maschinenbau). A doctorate is welcome but not required.

• Substantial experience in overall aircraft or vehicle design: Gesamtentwurf, conceptual and preliminary design, configuration development.

• Demonstrated ownership of multidisciplinary trade studies and technology selection under real programme constraints.

• Fluency with physics-based performance modelling: flight performance, energy and mass budgets, sizing loops, MDO (Multidisciplinary Design Optimization) or equivalent.

• Working depth in at least two of: aerodynamics, structures and materials, propulsion and power, flight mechanics, thermal, systems integration.

• Experience taking a novel configuration from concept toward hardware, ideally in a small team where the architecture was still open.

• Comfortable being the technical authority in the room, and equally comfortable being argued out of a position by better analysis.

• Fluent English. German is helpful but not required.

Nice to have

• Experience with high-altitude, long-endurance, solar-electric, stratospheric, HAPS or UAV platforms.

• Background from a research flight demonstrator, an X-plane style project, or a startup programme where vehicle-level decisions were made quickly and revisited honestly.

• Familiarity with certification or regulatory pathways for novel aircraft.

What we offer

• Genuine ownership of a clean-sheet vehicle architecture at a company small enough that your decisions are the design.

• A founding-team role with scope to build the engineering team around you.

• On-site work in Gauting, in the middle of the Munich aerospace cluster.

We welcome applications from all backgrounds. Bespin Technologies is an equal opportunity employer.

Job Types: Full-time, Permanent

Ability to commute/relocate:

• 82131 Gauting: Reliably commute or planning to relocate before starting work (Required)

Application Question(s):

• Describe a vehicle-level architecture decision you personally owned. What were the alternatives, what analysis settled it, and what did it cost you elsewhere in the design?

Experience:

• overall aircraft or vehicle design (Gesamtentwurf): 5 years (Preferred)

Work Location: In person