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Captain’s Message

The aerospace industry is among the fastest-growing industries worldwide. In 2025, the market size was estimated at 373.6 billion USD and is projected to double by 2035.

At Queen’s Aerospace Design Team (QADT), we are dedicated to pushing boundaries with the development of high performance & autonomous UAVs for national and international competitions in Canada, Europe, and the United States. With the continued growth in industry aerospace applications in recent years, QADT has seen an unparalleled expansion, and our dedicated team of more than 150 undergraduate students has not disappointed.

Last year, the technical team developed 2 brand new UAVs from the ground up to compete at the AEAC 2025 student competition hosted in Medicine Hat, Alberta. Including a fully carbon fiber fixed wing aircraft with a two-axis gimbal to find and map wildfires, as well as a heavy-lift quadcopter designed to pick-up and drop-off water for autonomous fire extinguishing. While in parallel, the QADT research team wrote two research papers for submission to the IMAV conference paper call and the VFS student design competition. Respectively, these papers focused on the application of DBD plasma actuators to reattach airflow separation and a hydrogen fuel cell powered aircraft design to maximize loitering time.

This year, we are going even further with new designs and initiatives as we prepare to expand our technical capabilities and compete in not just the AEAC 2026 student competition, but also the AIAA Design, Build, Fly competition hosted in Wichita, KS, while continuing to publish leading edge research papers.

QADT offers a unique opportunity for development and growth for students in any discipline, including gaining technical experience in Aeromechanics, Electrical, and Software, and the opportunity to conduct research in a variety of unique fields, as well as the chance to gain experience in business and management. QADT is looking to continue its rapid growth and expansion by taking on like-minded and motivated individuals to not just continue the development of advanced drone technology, but push the boundaries of what student teams are capable of.

We eagerly await your application.

‘Aviation is proof that given the will, we have the capacity to achieve the impossible.’

— Eddie Rickenbacker, WWI flying ace

Finance Coordinator

Moving forward, QADT’s Finance Team is focused on building a highly organized, data-driven financial operation to support the team’s growth and competitiveness. The priority of the Business branch is creating clear, accurate budgets, optimizing spending, and ensuring all purchases and events are backed by strong financial justification. This will include introducing standardized reporting systems, producing financial dashboards for executives, and improving forecasting so the team can plan with precision.

As a General Member of the Finance Team, you will be contributing directly to these goals by assisting in the development of budgets, tracking expenses, making reports, and constructing new financial tools to streamline operations. GMs have the opportunity to specialize in one of two paths, Budget Analyst or Strategic Finance Analyst depending on skills and interests. Throughout the year, you will also be trained in Excel, budgeting, data visualization, and finance automation using basic Python programming. This is a job where you'll gain technical skills as well as hands on experience in finance alongside learning real world finance alongside directly contributing to QADT's goals.

This year the finance sub team members will be split up into one of two roles:

Budget Analyst (Focused More on Research & Budgeting):

• Build and maintain detailed budgets for all sub-teams, tracking actual expenses against forecasts.
• Reconcile purchase records with receipts and funding allocations.
• Manage event and purchase justification tools to ensure requests are well-documented.
• Support funding applications and assist with purchase order submissions
• Maintain accurate transaction logs for internal and external reporting.
• Produce monthly financial reports and mid-year/end-of-year summaries for executives and sponsors.

Strategic Finance Analysts (Focused More on Excel):

• Produce monthly financial reports and mid-year/end-of-year summaries for executives and sponsors.
• Develop finance dashboards to visualize spending trends, funding status, and key metrics in real time.
• Analyze spending patterns to identify opportunities for cost savings or reallocation.
• Assist the Business Team with financial forecasting for sponsorship planning and long-term strategy.
• Collaborate with Budget Analysts to ensure data accuracy for all reporting.

Application & Interview Details

We do not look at your resume as a deciding factor. We weigh it the least compared to your written application and interview.

DEADLINE TO APPLY: September 11th, 2025 (11:59 PM EST)

Interviews will occur online after the deadline. We are happy to provide accommodations for these interviews, so please reach out to us and let us know how we can make the process more accessible for you!

Contact Information

Please email any questions or concerns to aero @engsoc.queensu.ca or text @queensaero on Instagram!