Principal Engineer, Reliability, Maintainability, and Material Properties

With the stagnancy of the aerospace industry, Universal Hydrogen is taking revolutionary steps to provide cleaner alternatives to an outdated industry. Our plan is to power an ATR-72 with our hydrogen fuel cells and electric powertrain. This is where you come in as the Principal Engineer - Reliability, Maintainability, and Material Properties. You will be working with engineering, program, and supplier teams that are rapidly iterating the design and testing of a leading-edge hydrogen powertrain for aircraft. This role will provide input and guidance for maintainability and reliability in the design and certification of a signification aircraft modification program implementing a revolutionary propulsion system, and hydrogen capsule technology that will be utilized across multiple designs.

About the Role

• Work with design, stress, and manufacturing engineers to achieve robust processes and select appropriate materials to manufacture the hydrogen capsules aircraft.
• Create test plans, evaluate data, complete technical reports, and identify further testing or development work materials qualifications.
• Identify and evaluate metallic forming processes, heat treatment processes, metallic joining techniques, and corrosion protection.
• Audit the manufacturing process to ensure the repeatability and conformity of modules.
• Work with FAA engineering and MIDO to develop compliance data for structural materials and special processes to hit project milestones.

About You

• Substantial experience working at an aircraft OEM, primary supplier, or certification authority.
• Expert knowledge of FAA AC 20-107B certification approaches, and knowledge of CMH-17.
• Working knowledge of metallic, composite, nonmetallic materials, corrosion, and failure modes of materials.
• Familiarity with aerospace materials, fasteners, and processes.

About Us

At Universal Hydrogen, our mission is to fuel carbon-free flight and reduce the climate impact of air travel. We are stitching together the end-to-end hydrogen value chain for aviation, both for hydrogen fuel and hydrogen-powered airplanes. We are building a transport and logistics network that moves hydrogen from production facilities to airports over the existing freight infrastructure, eliminating the need for costly new pipelines and storage facilities. Our system utilizes specialized capsules that safely store hydrogen during transit and also act as modular fuel tanks that load directly onto aircraft. We are also developing powertrain conversion kits to retrofit existing airplanes and enable new airplanes to fly on hydrogen. Founded by former executives from Airbus, United Technologies, Google, and DARPA, and backed by investors such as Playground Global, JetBlue, Toyota, and Airbus, we are convinced that hydrogen is the best and only scalable solution to truly decarbonize aviation, and we want to bring it to market decades sooner—by 2025.

We strive for a culture that is empowered, collaborative, open, and human-centered. We are driven by a sense of urgency to address climate change through the near-term decarbonization of commercial aviation. We recognize that people have a diverse set of preferences for work conditions and hours that optimize for their overall productivity and wellness, and both our cloud-based IT setup and flexible work policy reflects this. However, because we are building physical products, most roles will require working at our facility at Hawthorne Airport in Los Angeles most of the time.

Our compensation and benefits package promotes transparency, equitability, and long-term employee well-being, while rewarding individual and team performance. This includes cash bonuses and significant equity participation for all salaried employees, employer-paid health insurance coverage, generous parental leave, a pet-friendly headquarters located at Hawthorne Airport in Los Angeles, and generous paid time off. As a young company, we are actively working to expand the benefits we provide—including childcare, retirement, parental, and mental health benefits—and we’re always open to feedback on what’s most important to you. 

We know that no two candidates are the same, and we want to give you the opportunity to present yourself in the best way possible. Don’t hesitate to let us know how we can support a great recruitment process for you—whether that includes off-hours interview scheduling, captioning/transcription services, or other accommodations. We value diversity in all its forms, and encourage people from all backgrounds to apply, especially if you share in our mission to decarbonize air travel.

Please note that for the health and safety of our employees, we require all employees to provide proof of up-to-date COVID-19 vaccinations as recommended by the CDC (or a valid exemption).