Mechanical Engineer III - Payload

Firefly Aerospace•Cedar Park, TX

About The Position

The Payload Engineer III is responsible for designing, analyzing, developing, and qualifying the payload segment and its mechanical interfaces to spacecraft for the Alpha Launch Vehicle. The role provides technical leadership across the payload segment hardware lifecycle, including fairings, attach fittings, and adapters. It offers hands-on work with spacecraft customers to translate mission requirements into functional hardware. The engineer serves as technical owner for payload hardware and spacecraft interfaces, manages hardware definition, performs and guides analyses, leads testing, supports production and integration, and works across teams and with customers to deliver flight-ready hardware. The role includes up to 20% travel as needed.

Requirements

Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related engineering field.
At least 6 years of experience designing, analyzing, and qualifying hardware for aerospace applications or high-reliability systems.
Demonstrated experience with flight-critical structures or mechanisms.
Experience designing and testing for extreme environments, including vibration, shock, and vacuum.
Demonstrated design foundation in carbon-fiber and metallic structures.
Proficiency with FEA and classical hand-calculation methods to evaluate strength, stiffness, buckling, and related factors; tools include Ansys or Femap.
Solid understanding of loads and dynamics as they apply to primary structures.
Experience supporting production builds, resolving nonconformances, and improving producibility.
Experience defining qualification and acceptance test programs and interpreting test data.
Ability to make sound, defensible engineering decisions under schedule and program constraints.

Nice To Haves

Master's or Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related discipline, or at least 8 years of experience designing, analyzing, and qualifying mechanical mechanisms for aerospace or high-reliability systems.
Experience with launch vehicle or spacecraft programs from development through qualified flight.
Experience in customer-facing technical roles.
Experience driving hardware from a failed test to a successful product.
Familiarity with scripting or programming for analysis, automation, or data reduction.
Hands-on experience with final-stage spacecraft integration.
Working knowledge of AIAA S-114, NASA 5017b, SMS-S016, NASA 5020, and GEVS.

Responsibilities

Develop and produce payload segments and spacecraft interfaces for individual customers as the technical owner, contributing individually and as part of a team.
Create and manage hardware definition through CAD, drawings, and documentation.
Perform or guide detailed analyses, including structural margins, thermal effects, and tolerance stack-ups.
Build confidence and reliability through rigorous documentation.
Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure hardware integrates seamlessly.
Partner with Manufacturing, Quality, and Supply Chain to ensure hardware is producible, inspectable, and flight-ready.
Support build, integration, and acceptance activities, resolving fit, function, and performance issues.
Lead development, qualification, and acceptance testing of payload hardware at component, subassembly, and system levels, using SMC-S016, AIAA S-114, GEVS, and other industry standards.
Maintain mechanical interface control definition for unique spacecraft through documentation.
Support customer fit checks and integration through segment encapsulation as the technical owner.
Mentor junior engineers to improve overall design quality.
Serve as a subject matter expert in customer and mission-management interface meetings.
Travel up to 20% as needed.