Whelan started his career at
Northrop where he was one of the key designers of the
B-2 Stealth Bomber and contributed to the
YF-23 Advanced Tactical Fighter. Since his time at Northrop, he has moved on to positions at other organizations such as the
Hughes Aircraft Company,
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), and
DARPA. At Hughes, he assumed the role of Program Manager and Chief Scientist working on the B-2's air-to-air radar imaging. At the LLNL, he worked on X-ray lasers and the Advanced Nuclear Weapons program. While at DARPA, he took on the role of the director for the Tactical Technology Office (TTO) and also the acting director for the Sensor Technology Office (STO). He went on to serve as the vice president of engineering and chief technologist for
Boeing. He left Boeing in January 2017. At this time became the Chairman Of The Board at
AOSense, a position which he still holds. In October 2020, it was announced that Whelan would be joining
Cubic as the Senior Vice President and Chief Scientist. == Memberships ==