Simulation Engineer - Drone Physical Models Integration

ABOUT US Harmattan AI is a next-generation defense prime building autonomous and scalable defense systems. Following the close of a $200M Series B, valuing the company at $1.4 billion, we are expanding our teams and capabilities to deliver mission-critical systems to allied forces. Our work is guided by clear values: building technologies with real-world impact, pursuing excellence in everything we do, setting ambitious goals, and taking on the hardest technical challenges. We operate in a demanding environment where rigor, ownership, and execution are expected. ABOUT THE ROLE As our GNC, ML, Embedded Software, and Validation teams scale, they rely increasingly on simulation to develop and test our autonomous defense systems. The value of that simulation depends directly on how faithfully it reproduces the real behavior of our drones. Joining the Tooling team, you will be responsible for bringing the physical models of our drones into the simulator—including aerodynamics, propulsion, electronics, sensors, and electromechanical systems. Designed by expert domain teams, these models require your expertise to translate user needs, integrate models into the simulator software stack, and validate expected behavior. Because not every use case requires the same level of realism, you will help establish the appropriate fidelity targets across applications. This role offers high ownership and the opportunity to work at the intersection of physics, software engineering, and AI robotics with direct mission impact. RESPONSIBILITIES - Coordination with Domain Experts: Work with the teams in charge of aerodynamics, propulsion, electronics, sensors, and electromechanical systems to understand their models, their assumptions, and their inputs and outputs, and to agree on how they are delivered to the simulator. - Model Integration: Integrate these models into the simulator software stack in a clean, performant, and maintainable way, with clear interfaces and configurable parameters. - Validation: Define and run tests that check the integrated models against the reference data given by the expert teams (flight logs, bench tests, manufacturer data), and report discrepancies back to the model owners. - User Needs & Fidelity Targets: Work with the simulator users (GNC, Embedded, Validation) to understand their use cases, and translate them into a realism target for each model. Pick the right balance between fidelity, performance, and integration effort, and prioritise the model integration work to match. - Documentation & Standards: Document the integrated models, their parameters, validity domains, and validation results, and help standardise the model integration and validation process. CANDIDATE REQUIREMENTS - Experience: Minimum of 3 years of professional experience in software engineering, simulation, or a related engineering field. - Physics Understanding: Good understanding of flight dynamics and enough physics background to discuss models with experts in aerodynamics, propulsion, electronics, sensors, and electromechanical systems, and to turn their models into working code. - Integration & Validation: Experience integrating third-party models or components into a larger software system, and validating them against experimental data with a rigorous approach. - Technical Proficiency: Comfortable with C++ and Python, with a good knowledge of Linux environments. - Educational Background: MSc or BSc in Aerospace Engineering, Robotics, Computer Science, Applied Physics, or a similar technical field; equivalent professional experience is equally valued. Plus (nice to have) - Experience with drones or robotic systems, ideally with open-source autopilots like PX4 or ArduPilot. - Hands-on experience with flight testing, test benches, or log analysis. - French language skills. Mindset - Rigor: Empirical and disciplined about validation, grounded in real test data, and skeptical of a result that only exists in simulation. - Communication: Clear written and verbal communication, comfortable working with several specialized teams, asking the right questions, and sharing validation results with them. We look forward to hearing how you can help shape the future of autonomous defense systems at Harmattan AI.