Staff Structures Engineer
$150,000-$230,000 (DOE)
About the Opportunity
Our client is a fast-moving space company building launch vehicles and spacecraft hardware for next-generation missions — from commercial payload delivery to interplanetary science exploration. This is a high-autonomy environment where engineers don't just execute specs; they shape architecture decisions, own hardware end-to-end, and see their work fly.
This Staff-level role sits within a specialized program focused on expanding access to scientific exploration across the solar system - rethinking how science missions are designed, built, and operated to make interplanetary research faster, more affordable, and more achievable than ever before.
What You'll Do
- Own the design, development, analysis, build, and verification of primary and secondary spacecraft structures, from concept through flight
- Take direct responsibility for delivering flight-ready hardware that meets mission performance, reliability, and cost objectives
- Perform structural and dynamic analysis — FEA, hand calcs, margins — to validate designs across all mission phases
- Produce engineering drawings with manufacturing-ready specifications
- Collaborate cross-functionally across all subsystems to ensure structural integrity and system-level integration
- Manage fabrication and assembly of structural components, including supplier coordination, material procurement, and flight hardware acceptance testing
- Design and execute environmental testing, load testing, and flight verification campaigns
- Operate with significant autonomy — owning decisions from early architecture and trade studies through prototype testing to final flight qualification
What You Bring
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related technical field
- 6+ years of experience designing, analyzing, and delivering aerospace primary or secondary structures
- Demonstrated ability to take structural systems from blank-sheet concept through qualification and flight
- Proficiency in CAD and structural analysis tools
- Hands-on experience with metallic structural design, GD&T, drawing creation, integration, and testing
- Strong communication skills and a track record of success working cross-functionally in fast-paced, ambiguous environments
- Comfort operating with high autonomy and end-to-end ownership — this is not a role for someone who needs detailed direction
Nice to Have
- Direct technical experience with interplanetary or deep-space spacecraft design
- Experience designing avionics enclosures
- Familiarity with NASA or other spaceflight structural design and verification standards
- Experience with spaceflight hardware environmental testing and qualification
INDAD
Pay: $150,000.00 - $230,000.00 per year
Benefits:
Application Question(s):
- Have you personally taken a structural system from blank-sheet concept through qualification and flight?
- Do you have hands-on experience applying GD&T to metallic structural design and drawings?
Education:
Experience:
- Aerospace: 1 year (Preferred)
Work Location: In person
