Electric flight is a highly focused field of research in the present days due to the social demand to reduce emissions from combustion of carbonized energy sources. An emerging sector within this field is the development of airborne high-speed vehicles, which traditionally are powered by conventional turbojet or turbofan engines. Contra-rotating engines are identified as a potential propulsion technology to allow for high flight speeds while substituting combustion engines by means of electrical motors. A novel test engine on basis of a contra-rotating fan stage was designed, constructed and analyzed in the framework of the present thesis. The test engines is intended to deliver a thrust of approx. 100 N at flight conditions and features a diameter of 130 mm. It may thus be termed as “small-sized” engine. Particular difficulties and penalties of small engines were taken into account during design, as well as the contra-rotating nature of the fan stage. Core of the engine are two highly efficient brushless motors. The first focus is put on the the mechanical design of the engine and the aerodynamic design of the fan stage. The second focus is put on characterization of the engine operating at different conditions to validate the design processes and methods. Finally, a sensitivity study regarding the most important parameter, which is the rotational speed ratio, is conducted.