Lead Engineer, Advanced Behaviors & Algorithms – Special Programs

Archer is an aerospace company based in San Jose, California building an all-electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft with a mission to advance the benefits of sustainable air mobility. We are designing, manufacturing, and operating an all-electric aircraft that can carry four passengers while producing minimal noise.

About the Role

Special Programs is Archer's rapid-prototyping, cross-functional engineering team supporting advanced and defense-focused development efforts. We operate as a small, empowered group capable of moving quickly across disciplines — from early technical assessment of new opportunities through hands-on design, analysis, and prototype development. The Lead Special Programs Engineer – Advanced Behaviors & Algorithms brings deep expertise in advanced vehicle and mission behaviors as their organic core competency — designing and validating the tactics, decision logic, and mission-level behaviors that let prototype systems operate effectively in contested or dynamic environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and validation of advanced mission behaviors and tactics for prototype vehicles, including behavior architectures, decision logic, and scenario-based validation
• Support rapid prototyping efforts end-to-end, from concept behaviors and simulation through hardware-in-the-loop test and flight test support
• Own the advanced behaviors discipline within Special Programs — setting technical approach, standards, and validation methods used across the program’s behavior work
• Conduct technical feasibility assessments of new opportunities — evaluating whether emerging concepts, RFPs, or mission requirements are viable within your focus area and what approach they would require
• Serve as a cross-functional technical contributor across Special Programs efforts outside your core focus area when program needs require it
• Collaborate with program leads, other Special Programs engineers, and broader Archer engineering teams to align technical approaches with program timelines and constraints
• Produce technical documentation, trade studies, and analysis packages supporting both design maturity reviews and opportunity/capture decisions
• Represent Special Programs work in your focus area in internal reviews and, as needed, in discussions with government stakeholders

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace, Computer Science, Robotics, or a related field (advanced degree a plus)
• Demonstrated experience developing or validating mission-level behaviors, tactics, or decision-making logic for autonomous or semi-autonomous aerospace/defense systems
• Familiarity with behavior modeling, simulation environments, and scenario-based test and validation approaches
• Demonstrated ability to work across the full development lifecycle — concept through prototype — in a fast-paced, resource-constrained environment
• Experience or strong aptitude for evaluating technical feasibility of early-stage concepts, not just executing against defined requirements
• Comfort operating as a generalist when needed — willingness and ability to contribute outside your core focus area in support of program needs
• Ability to work independently with significant technical ownership and no direct-report support structure
• 8–12 years of relevant engineering experience (or equivalent demonstrated experience in rapid-prototyping / advanced-programs environments)
• Must be a U.S. Person (U.S. citizen, national, lawful permanent resident, asylee, or refugee), as defined by ITAR/EAR
• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government security clearance

What Makes This Role Different

This isn’t a seat on Archer’s core advanced behaviors team. Special Programs engineers are chosen for deep discipline expertise and the versatility to support wherever a program needs it — from early opportunity evaluation to hands-on prototype work across disciplines. You’ll have significant technical ownership and autonomy, working in a small team built to move fast on some of Archer’s most forward-looking defense efforts.

Pay

For this position, we are targeting a base pay range of $138,200 - $190,100. Actual compensation offered will be determined by job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.