After the 1917 Russian Revolution he continued his education and was hired to work as a technician in the aerodynamics laboratory at Moscow State Technical University under the guidance of Nikolai Zhukovsky, while resuming his studies.

From 1921 to 1936 Petlyakov worked at the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI) (Russian: Центральный аэрогидродинамический институт (ЦАГИ)) under the guidance of Andrei Tupolev; there he became involved in wing design and in the development of gliders.

In particular, Petlyakov (together with the engineer Nikolai Belyaev) elaborated methods of calculating durability of materials and theory on designing metal wings with multiple spars.

Operational experience in the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939–1940 showed that this was not what the Soviet Air Force needed, and Lavrentiy Beria, head of the NKVD and of the sharashka system, ordered that the fighter be redesigned as a dive bomber, with the promise that Petlyakov and his colleagues would be released on its successful completion.

At Kazan, Petlyakov faced increasing difficulties, with many of his trained technicians and machinists conscripted into the Soviet military and sent to the front lines, which adversely affected the quality of production aircraft.