Senior Structural Analysis Engineer - Loads and Dynamics

Blue Origin•Southgate, WA

About The Position

This role is part of Blue Origin’s Advanced Concepts and Enterprise Engineering (ACE) team, which supports the company’s mission of enabling millions of people to live and work in space. The team develops future engineering workflows, shared solutions and standards, and approaches that promote simplicity, lower costs, and manufacturable design. As part of a small team of experts, the engineer will help aerospace structures teams address challenging problems through analysis and by creating tools and methods for developing spaceflight systems. The engineer will evaluate structural systems, establish their environments, and help ensure hardware is appropriately specified. The role develops predictions of structural dynamic responses using analytical techniques such as hand calculations, finite element analysis, and statistical analysis, supported by commercial and custom software. The engineer may support every Blue Origin business unit and help identify technical performance trends and the effects of tool selection, analysis methods, and high-performance computing workflows on organizational efficiency and cost. The position also involves reviewing existing systems and creating new projects. The role requires attention to safety and repeatable spaceflight.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, civil engineering, or physics.
At least 8 years of relevant engineering experience.
High judgment and ability to develop innovative solutions, balancing engineering judgment with analysis rigor and recognizing when each is appropriate.
Experience with explicit and implicit nonlinear transient dynamic analysis using LS-DYNA, such as landing impact, stage separation events, and pyrotechnic shock.
Experience with contact and interface modeling, including complex multi-body contact definitions, tied interfaces, and constraint-based connections for separation and deployment events.
Experience with mesh convergence studies, element formulation selection, and hourglass control strategies for reliable explicit solutions.
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 Haves

Experience or expertise modeling fluids and/or fluid-structure interaction, including ALE and SPH methods.
Experience with nonlinear material modeling, including metals (plasticity, failure, and strain-rate effects such as Johnson-Cook), composites, elastomers, and honeycomb or crushable energy absorbers.
Experience with restart, adaptive, and multi-stage analysis techniques for complex event sequences.
Experience with multiphysics co-simulation to capture complex dynamic systems and control logic.
Experience with mechanism and kinematic modeling in LS-DYNA, including joints, springs, dampers, sensors, and control logic for deployment sequences and landing gear systems.

Responsibilities

Develop finite element models and correlate them with test data.
Model, simulate, and verify applicable spacecraft and engine ground and flight regimes.
Measure and interpret dynamic data from ground and flight tests.
Manage resource-intensive computing and large datasets, and reduce and post-process data for engineering applications.
Reduce finite element models using Component Modal Synthesis methods such as Craig-Bampton.
Develop general loads for launch vehicles and related ground systems.
Develop mathematical models and simulations for loads analysis.
Measure and interpret acceleration, shock, and vibration data from ground and flight tests.
Evaluate structural systems to establish environments and ensure hardware is appropriately specified.
Develop predictions of structural dynamic responses using hand calculations, FEA, statistical analysis, and software tools.
Support Blue Origin business units and assess trends in technical performance and the effects of tool selection, analysis methods, and HPC workflows on efficiency and cost.
Review current systems and create new projects.

Benefits

Medical insurance
Dental insurance
Vision insurance
Basic and supplemental life insurance
Paid parental leave
Short- and long-term disability
401(k) with company match of up to 5%
Education Support Program
Stock options for regular employees working at least 20 hours per week
Paid time off of up to four weeks per year based on weekly scheduled hours
Up to 14 company-paid holidays
Depending on role type and job level, employees may be eligible for benefits and bonuses based on individual contributions and company results; amounts and eligibility are not guaranteed.