Senior Mechanical Engineer (Structures)

The role

You will own the structural architecture, design, analysis, and qualification of Starlight solar array hardware. You will serve as a technical authority for lightweight space structures and resolve design and integration challenges.

What you will do

• Own structural systems from architecture through detailed design, analysis, fabrication, qualification, and flight
• Establish structural requirements, load cases, factors of safety, margin policies, and verification approaches
• Lead architectural trades involving mass, stiffness, strength, reliability, manufacturability, cost, and system performance
• Develop efficient load paths and lightweight primary and secondary structures, interfaces, brackets, housings, and mechanisms
• Perform and review hand calculations and FEA covering stress, stiffness, buckling, fatigue, joints, thermal distortion, modal response, and dynamic environments
• Develop and maintain structural models, loads documentation, margin summaries, and verification records
• Own material, fastener, joint, finish, and manufacturing-process selections for the launch and space environments
• Define structural qualification and acceptance-test programs covering static load, vibration, shock, and modal testing
• Lead test-to-model correlation and use test results to improve both hardware and analytical models
• Lead structural design reviews, failure investigations, risk-reduction efforts, and corrective actions

Required qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, structural engineering, or a related discipline
• 6+ years of professional mechanical-design or structural-engineering experience
• Demonstrated ownership of complex structural hardware from concept through qualification or production
• Strong command of structural mechanics, load paths, joints, stress, stiffness, buckling, fatigue, and structural dynamics
• Proficiency with 3D CAD, GD&T, tolerance analysis, and detailed engineering drawings
• Advanced experience performing and reviewing structural analysis using hand calculations and FEA
• Experience defining structural test programs and correlating analytical models with test data
• Hands-on experience building, testing, troubleshooting, and improving mechanical hardware
• Ability to lead technical decisions, communicate risk clearly, and coordinate across engineering and manufacturing teams
• Evidence of exceptional engineering ability

Nice to have

• Advanced degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, structural engineering, or a related discipline
• Experience owning structures that have survived launch and operated in space
• Advanced proficiency with Nastran, Abaqus, Ansys, Femap, or similar FEA tools
• Experience with quasi-static loads, random vibration, shock response, modal analysis, thermal distortion, fatigue, and coupled-loads analysis
• Experience leading static load, vibration, shock, and modal qualification campaigns
• Expertise in test planning, instrumentation, data interpretation, and test-to-model correlation
• Experience designing lightweight structures across machined, sheet-metal, welded, composite, and bonded construction
• Deep knowledge of aerospace materials, fasteners, joint design, and structural margin policies
• Experience with deployable structures, hinges, latches, actuators, or other spacecraft mechanisms
• Familiarity with NASA-STD-5001, GEVS, and other applicable aerospace structural standards

Benefits

• Health, dental, vision, and retirement plans
• Paid time off, holidays, and flexible policies
• Professional growth opportunities through training and development
• The chance to own high-impact work that directly shapes the future of robotics & space!
• A collaborative, mission-driven culture where craftsmanship and innovation are celebrated

Before you apply

• Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. lawful, permanent resident, Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S.

About the company

Starpath develops and manufactures the technologies that will enable humans to live on the Moon and Mars. They are building robotic systems that locally produce water, power, and oxygen.