Senior Structures Engineer

The role

You will own the design and development of primary tanks and welded structures for a launch vehicle. This includes work from requirements and sizing through to fabrication, qualification, and flight.

What you will do

• Own the full lifecycle of primary tanks and welded structures.
• Design tank barrels, domes, bulkheads, weld joints, penetrations, attachments, and supporting structures.
• Perform first-order sizing and design trades.
• Work with structural analysts to establish design load cases and verify strength, buckling, fatigue, and damage tolerance.
• Develop and release CAD models, engineering drawings, and specifications.
• Partner with manufacturing and welding engineers to develop fabrication and assembly approaches.
• Define hardware verification requirements and support testing.
• Support fabrication and test operations directly.
• Investigate anomalies and evaluate nonconformances.
• Lead design reviews, manage structural interfaces, and mentor engineers.

Required qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field.
• 7+ years of experience designing and developing structures for flight vehicles, propulsion systems, or other high-performance hardware.
• Demonstrated ownership of metallic tanks, pressure vessels, or thin-walled welded structures from design through manufacturing and test.
• Strong fundamentals in solid mechanics, structural stability, materials behavior, and joint design.
• Proficiency with mechanical CAD, engineering drawings, GD&T, and tolerance analysis.
• Ability to substantiate design decisions with classical hand calculations and interpret structural analysis results.
• Experience working directly with manufacturing, inspection, and test teams to resolve hardware issues.
• 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.

Nice to have

• Direct experience designing launch vehicle primary structures or cryogenic propellant tanks.
• Experience with stainless-steel tank construction, sheet and plate forming, and welded assemblies.
• Experience developing weld-joint designs and supporting weld-process qualification.
• Experience with reusable or repeatedly pressurized hardware.
• Experience supporting structural qualification campaigns, pressure testing, and failure investigations.
• Familiarity with relevant aerospace structural standards, pressure-vessel requirements, and material allowables sources such as MMPDS.
• Experience taking hardware from early development into repeatable production.

Benefits

• Equity in Cowboy Space Corp.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and eligible dependents
• 401(k) retirement savings plan
• Paid time off
• 10 paid holidays per calendar year
• Paid parental leave
• Relocation assistance if applicable
• Daily lunch in the office
• Fully stocked kitchen with beverages and snacks

Before you apply

• Applicants must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, protected individual, or eligible to obtain required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State to conform to ITAR.

About the company

Cowboy Space Corporation is building the infrastructure for abundant, resilient space-based solar energy. The company is building modular, scalable satellites to collect sunlight in Low Earth Orbit.