Airframe and Propulsion (AP) Capability Leader

Airframe and Propulsion (AP) Capability Leader

About KrateoSky

KrateoSky's mission is to expand human capability with intelligent aerial robotics.

We are building a Western at-scale AI perception and actuation platform for robotic flight and aerial intervention spanning defense, national security, infrastructure, public safety, and industrial operations. Our platform combines a common autonomy architecture, advanced perception, mission software into one connected system — built for operators who need autonomy they can trust, control, and sustain.

What makes KrateoSky different is simple: we bring the leadership, operating discipline, and urgency that this moment demands. Our team has built, led, and scaled multi-billion-dollar global industrial companies and we are now applying that proven experience to accelerate the deployment of reliable autonomous systems. We are rapidly acquiring proven companies, integrating the best technology and talent, and building a vertically integrated, AI-native platform with speed and scale.

Anchored by a secure, Western-sourced supply chain and advanced manufacturing operations in Denton, Texas, KrateoSky operates from first principles and executes for customers with purpose and pace.

Joining KrateoSky means joining at a formative moment—when the systems, standards, and decisions we make now will shape how autonomous aerial capability scales in the years ahead. This is an opportunity to do consequential work alongside experienced leaders, help build a category-defining platform, and solve hard engineering and operational challenges that matter in the real world. As an AI-native organization, KrateoSky is also building an environment where modern tools, automation, and connected systems help teams move faster, reduce manual work, and focus their energy on the highest-value problems. For people who are motivated by mission, energized by building, and excited by the chance to combine speed, rigor, and intelligent automation, KrateoSky offers the opportunity to have outsized impact on technology, operations, and the future of trusted autonomy.

Position Summary

KrateoSky is hiring an Airframe and Propulsion (AP) Capability Leader to build and scale a core engineering capability that supports every product line in our portfolio. This leader will be responsible for physical flight platform design, aerodynamics, structural materials, propulsion integration, and energy systems. The role combines hands-on technical leadership with functional ownership for the people, processes, tools, and operating discipline required to scale.

This is a hands-on player-coach role for a leader who can solve technical problems directly while also building the people, processes, and operating discipline required to scale across a growing organization.

As an AI-native and automation-first leader, the default instinct is to eliminate manual tasks. This leader will use AI and automation as productivity multipliers to reduce manual work, improve engineering throughput, and help teams focus on the highest-value technical problems. The leader embodies our values: deliver precision, challenge assumptions, break problems into fundamentals, and execute hands-on without ego to ensure product lines seamlessly pull from—and contribute to—shared, robust capability assets.

Responsibilities

• Capability Governance: Establish and maintain shared engineering methods, standards, toolchains, technical metrics, and review practices that strengthen functional excellence across the portfolio.

• Technical Authority: Serve as the functional authority for the capability, setting standards, governing technical quality, and ensuring product teams have access to scalable, reusable technical depth.

• Reference Architectures & Reuse : Define and mature common frameworks, reference architectures, and reusable assets that can be adopted and improved across multiple product lines.

• Design & Technical Reviews: Chair capability-specific design reviews, independent technical reviews, and technical roadmap discussions to improve rigor, reuse, and execution quality.

• Functional Leadership: Build and develop the capability organization through hiring, coaching, training, competency development, and career pathways. Manage capability hiring and resource allocation across the Enterprise.

• Cross-Portfolio Enablement: Partner with product line leaders to ensure teams can effectively pull from—and contribute back to—shared capability assets, methods, and standards.

• Maturity & Risk Management : Implement iterative development practices, technical risk reduction, and maturity-burndown mechanisms to improve readiness, transparency, and decision-making.

• Scale AI-Native Engineering : Integrate AI-based design, analysis, and automation tools into the core capability development workflow, ensuring seamless data continuity across the KrateoSky digital thread.

• Structural & Aerodynamic Authority: Govern airframe design, structural integrity, materials selection, load paths, aerodynamic baselines, and flight performance inputs across product lines.

• Propulsion, Power & Energy Architecture: Lead standards and technical direction for propulsion integration, drive groups, motors, ESCs, battery/fuel-cell systems, power distribution, and energy-storage architectures.

• Thermal, Packaging & Producibility: Define best practices for thermal management, mechanical packaging, maintainability, and AP-specific DFM/DFA requirements for scalable manufacturing.

• Physical Validation & Readiness: Establish qualification and verification methods for wind-tunnel testing, structural load testing, vibration/shock, and mass-properties validation, with authority to assess AP readiness for integration and release.

Required Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in physical flight platform design, including aerodynamics, structural materials (composites, metals), energy/power systems, and propulsion integration.

• 6+ years of progressive people management experience, including building/leading high-performing teams

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, science, or a related technical field.

• Experience building or scaling engineering processes, standards, and teams

• Experience with MBSE and digital engineering practices

• Experience in regulated, safety-critical, or mission-critical environments

• AI-native proficiency: ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, or similar tools are part of your default workflow, and you can point to measurable productivity gains from AI-augmented work in engineering contexts.

• Security Clearance: Eligible to obtain US DoD Secret security clearance.

Preferred Qualifications

• Aerostructures & Flight Platform Design: Extensive experience driving end-to-end physical vehicle design, encompassing aerodynamic configuration, structural materials engineering (composites/metals), mechanical packaging (DFM/DFA), and rigorous physical integrity validation (wind-tunnel, shock, and structural load testing).

• Propulsion, Energy & Thermal Systems: Deep technical expertise in architecting and integrating flight-critical powertrains, including drive groups, advanced energy storage (battery-electric, fuel-cell, or hybrid), power distribution networks, and thermal management across propulsion and electronic systems.

• AI-Driven Physical Engineering: Proven track record of applying AI-based design workflows to physical hardware development, moving seamlessly from generative structural concepts to DFM/DFA-ready components and automated physical validation.

• Uncrewed Aerial System design, development, integration, test, operation, and maintenance

• Advanced technical degree

• Experience at high-velocity startups or companies that have shipped hardware at scale.

• Prior involvement in M&A technical due diligence or post-acquisition architecture harmonization.

• Cost/schedule management (agile EVM/EVMS cost account management, IMS development/maintenance)

• Experience with Blue UAS compliance, AS9100, or safety-critical flight hardware standards.

Location(s): Remote (US-based); Reston, VA; Denton, TX; Denver, CO; San Luis Obispo, CA; San Leandro, CA.

Reports To: Chief Technology Officer

Travel: ~25%

Base Salary Range: $177,000 - $279,000

Security Clearance: Due to the nature of this role and the work performed, candidates must be eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. Department of Defense security clearance, as required for the position.

Export Control Requirements: This position must meet U.S. export control compliance requirements. To meet U.S. export control compliance requirements, a “U.S. Person” as defined by 22 C.F.R. §120.62 is required. “U.S. Person” includes U.S. Citizen, U.S. National, lawful permanent resident, refugee, or asylee.

Equal Opportunity: KrateoSky is an equal opportunity employer. We make all employment decisions based on lawful, job-related qualifications, merit, and business need, and do not discriminate on the basis of any protected characteristic under applicable federal, state, or local law. We are committed to building an inclusive workplace where employees with different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives can contribute and succeed. KrateoSky is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities and to applicants who require accommodation during the recruiting, application, or interview process, consistent with applicable law. If you need assistance or an accommodation, please let us know.

Compensation & Benefits: The total compensation package for this role includes base salary and may also include eligibility for annual bonus, incentive compensation, and/or equity, depending on role level, experience, skills, qualifications, and work location. In addition, KrateoSky offers a competitive benefits package, which may include medical, dental, and vision coverage, retirement benefits, paid time off, and other employee benefit programs, subject to plan terms and eligibility requirements. Any posted compensation range reflects the good-faith estimate of base salary for this role at the time of posting. Actual compensation will be determined based on a variety of factors, including relevant experience, skills, education, certifications, internal equity, market data, and geographic location. KrateoSky reserves the right to modify compensation, benefits, and other terms of employment in accordance with applicable law.