Structural Analyst

What you'd do

• Own the full lifecycle of structural prediction and data for the team — from load definition and first-order sizing through correlated, test-anchored models used to clear hardware for flight.
• Derive and maintain the structural load sets: quasi-static and dynamic load cases, pressure and thermal loads, and coupled loads across ground handling, ascent, and on-orbit environments.
• Perform static strength and stability analysis — yield and ultimate margins, buckling, joint and fastener analysis, bearing and bolt-group checks, and local detail stress.
• Perform fatigue and durability analysis: spectrum development, cumulative damage, and life prediction for reusable and cycled hardware.
• Perform fracture and damage-tolerance analysis with crack growth where applicable, including initial flaw assumptions, critical flaw sizes, and inspection intervals.
• Provide guidance to the broader team for best design practices to preclude the necessity for these analyses.
• Develop the tools, scripts, templates, and checklists the team uses to perform, document, and verify structural analyses so results are consistent, reviewable, and repeatable across engineers.
• Select and apply material allowables, accounting for temperature, environment, process, and material form; maintain the allowables the team analyzes to.
• Define test objectives and pass/fail criteria; support proof, static, modal, vibration, and life testing with predictions, and perform data analysis and model correlation.
• Perform data reduction for structural test data,and correlate analytical predictions against measurements.
• Support anomaly investigation and root cause analysis, including failure reconstruction, post-test and post-flight inspection, and disposition of nonconformances.

What they want

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related field.
• 5+ years of experience performing structural analysis for flight vehicles, propulsion systems, or other high-performance hardware.
• Strong fundamentals in solid mechanics, structural analysis, stability, and materials behavior, including plasticity, fatigue, and fracture with demonstrated experience determining static strength, stability, and fatigue analysis.
• Knowledgeable of damage-tolerance and crack-growth methods.
• Proficiency with commercial FEA tools for linear and nonlinear structural problems.
• Ability to substantiate results with classical hand calculations and to explain and defend method selection, not only tool output.
• Proficiency with Python or MATLAB for analysis automation, post-processing, and tool development.
• Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

What you get

• Equity in Cowboy Space Corp.
• Employees and their eligible dependents may enroll in medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) retirement savings plan
• Paid time o…