Senior Team Lead, Airframe & Aerostructures

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. Location: Rabat, Morocco — on site. Contract: Permanent, full time ABOUT THE ROLE As Senior Team Lead, Airframe & Aerostructures, you will own the structural design of a new composite airframe — from concept to production. You will start embedded with our core Airframe engineering team to take design ownership, then build and lead a dedicated composite engineering team on site. You own the roadmap, the trade-offs and the transition into series manufacturing. RESPONSIBILITIES - Airframe & Aerostructures Team: Build, lead and grow a composite engineering team on site — recruitment, onboarding, ramp-up, team structure and technical growth path. - Composite Structural Design: Drive the structural design of composite airframe structures from concept through production, including laminates, joints, inserts and tooling strategy. - Prototyping & Industrialisation: Drive fast in-house composite prototyping and carry designs into series manufacturing processes. - Trade-Off & Design Analysis: Own system-level trade-offs across mass budget, thermal performance and manufacturing cost. - Roadmap Ownership: Define and own the airframe roadmap — scope, milestones, priorities and trade-offs from prototype to production handover. - Technical Coordination: Lead cross-functional design with the core Airframe team, Simulation/FEA, Industrialisation, propulsion, avionics and ground segment teams. - Suppliers: Manage manufacturing partners and suppliers so design intent survives production. - System Reviews: Set technical standards, review designs and mentor engineers as the team scales. CANDIDATE REQUIREMENTS - 5+ years in mechanical or aerospace structural engineering within defense, aerospace or robotics, including experience leading a team, module or significant project. - MSc in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering, or a closely related field. A track record of building will outweigh the degree. - At least one product taken from concept to production, with strong composite structural design expertise and hands-on carbon fabrication and prototyping experience. - Owner and generalist. You take the whole airframe — design, prototyping and industrialisation — rather than a slice of it. - Entrepreneurial, hands-on and comfortable a long way from headquarters. You design from first principles, take local decisions and defend them, and stay rigorous on anything touching the safety case. We look forward to hearing how you can help shape the future of autonomous defense systems at Harmattan AI.