Senior Spacecraft Structures Engineer

Star Catcher•Jacksonville, FL

About The Position

Star Catcher Industries, Inc., located in Jacksonville, Florida, is hiring a Senior Spacecraft Structures Engineer to support development of space-to-space power-beaming spacecraft and the Star Catcher Network, an orbital power grid. The company is building technology to wirelessly beam energy to spacecraft using their existing solar panels. The successful candidate will serve as a subject matter expert, bringing extensive experience across the spacecraft structures development lifecycle, including structural architecture, load definition, finite element analysis, launch vehicle interfaces, vibration testing, and qualification. The engineer will own spacecraft structural architecture and verification, guide analysis and testing, manage launch-vehicle structural interfaces, and coordinate structural performance with optical, thermal, mechanical, electrical, and manufacturing teams. The role also includes producing technical documentation, mentoring engineers and analysts, and establishing standards and practices for the structures discipline.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in mechanical, structural, or aerospace engineering, or a related field.
Minimum of ten years of experience in spacecraft structural design and analysis.
Demonstrated leadership of space-systems development, including ownership of a structure from concept through qualification and flight.
Experience performing and reviewing structural analysis in Ansys Mechanical or equivalent across static, modal, random-vibration, and shock load cases.
Working knowledge of aerospace structural criteria, including margin-of-safety reporting, bolted-joint analysis, factors of safety per NASA-STD-5001, and fracture control per NASA-STD-5019 or equivalent.
Experience owning vibration test campaigns, including instrumentation plans, anomaly disposition, and correlation of models to test data.
Experience serving as the structures interface to a launch-vehicle provider, including coupled loads analysis cycles and interface requirements documents.
Creative problem-solving skills and the ability to develop innovative solutions to advanced engineering challenges.

Nice To Haves

Master's or PhD degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering, or a related field.
Analysis experience with deployable structures, hinges, latches, and stowed launch load paths.
Experience with composite, bonded, or lightweight panel construction.
Proficiency with CAD in Autodesk Inventor or equivalent, and scripting in Python or APDL to automate model builds and margin reporting.
Familiarity with regulations and standards relevant to space missions and operations.
Ability to communicate effectively and work in a multidisciplinary team while prioritizing tasks, multiple projects, and personnel.
Ability to identify risks to spacecraft structural components and assist in developing mitigations, drafting requirements changes, or documenting waiver requests.

Responsibilities

Own spacecraft structural architecture, including the primary structure, load paths, and stowed and deployed configurations of deployable structures.
Establish program structural design and verification criteria, including factors of safety, load-case definitions, and margin-of-safety reporting per NASA-STD-5001, and approve margins for flight.
Direct finite element modeling and analysis across the structures team, and review models, load cases, and margin reports before release.
Own structural-thermal-optical performance of precision optical assemblies under high thermal flux, and negotiate line-of-sight and wavefront-error allocations with optical and thermal teams.
Lead vibration test campaigns, including instrumentation plans and success criteria, anomaly disposition, and model-correlation closure.
Define structural interfaces to the launch vehicle and separation system, and own the coupled loads analysis cycle with the launch provider through closure.
Support systems engineering in writing detailed requirements for structures functionality and verification methods.
Serve as the technical focal point for structures across mechanical design, opto-mechanical, thermal, electrical, and manufacturing teams.
Create technical documentation for proposals, design reviews, and test reports to support program deliverables and new-program pursuits.
Mentor structures engineers and analysts, and establish standards for structural design, analysis processes, documentation, and review practices.