Lead / Senior Spacecraft Structures Engineer

PierSight; Ahmedabad District; On-site; INR 1,200,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Job summary

PierSight seeks an experienced Lead/Senior Spacecraft Structures Engineer to drive primary/secondary structures design for space hardware in Ahmedabad. You will own 3D CAD models, drawings, GD&T, and manufacturing release packages, while collaborating across Systems, Payload, RF, Thermal, and Manufacturing teams.

Your role involves translating requirements into robust, manufacturable structural concepts, performing preliminary sizing, and supporting PDR/CDR and verification campaigns.

Qualifications

• This role requires a strong background in designing spacecraft primary and secondary structures.
• Experience translating requirements into robust structural designs with manufacturability in mind.
• Ability to own 3D CAD models, drawings, GD&T, and release packages.

Responsibilities

• Design spacecraft structures including frames, panels, mounts, and interfaces.
• Translate requirements into practical, robust structural concepts balancing mass, stiffness, and cost.
• Own CAD models, drawings, GD&T, tolerances, and manufacturing release documentation.
• Perform preliminary sizing and sizing calculations for load paths and joints.
• Collaborate with analysis teams to assess strength, vibration, buckling, and fatigue.
• Use tests and analyses to refine designs and close margins efficiently.
• Select materials, processes, and joining methods for flight hardware.
• Assist design reviews (PDR/CDR) and support verification campaigns.

Skills

Spacecraft structures design

3D CAD

GD&T

Cross‑functional teamwork

Education

Bachelor's degree in aerospace/mechanical engineering

Tools

3D CAD software

FEM/structural analysis

Job description

Role: Lead / Senior Spacecraft Structures Engineer

Industry: Space Technology

Location: Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India

Role Type: Full-time

Experience: 5+ years of experience

Key Responsibilities

• Design spacecraft primary and secondary structures, including frames, panels, decks, brackets, equipment mounts, payload interfaces, and other flight-hardware assemblies.
• Translate spacecraft level mechanical, launch, payload, thermal, and interface requirements into practical structural designs. Develop structural concepts that achieve the required balance of mass, stiffness, strength, manufacturability, reliability, cost, and schedule.
• Own detailed 3D CAD models, engineering drawings, interface definitions, GD&T, tolerance schemes, and manufacturing release packages.
• Perform preliminary structural sizing and engineering calculations for load paths, margins, joints, fasteners, interfaces, and critical structural elements.
• Work closely with structural analysis engineers to evaluate static strength, modal behaviour, vibration response, buckling, fatigue, and launchload environments.
• Use analysis and test results to refine designs and close structural margins efficiently.
• Select appropriate materials, manufacturing processes, surface treatments, joining methods, inserts, fasteners, and structural interfaces for flight hardware.
• Design for manufacturing, assembly, integration, inspection, and test not simply for CAD completeness.
• Conduct tolerance-stack and interface assessments to ensure reliable assembly of spacecraft and payload hardware.
• Work closely with Systems, Payload, RF, Thermal, Electronics, AIT, Manufacturing, Analysis, and Quality teams to resolve multidisciplinary design challenges.
• Support supplier selection, technical discussions, manufacturing reviews, non-conformance resolution, and inspection of flight hardware.
• Participate in and drive mechanical portions of design reviews such as PDR, CDR, manufacturing readiness, test readiness, and flight readiness reviews.
• Define and support structural verification activities, including modal, sine vibration, random vibration, acoustic, shock, fit-check, and other environmental test campaigns as applicable.
• Support spacecraft assembly and integration on the shop floor and in cleanroom environments, resolving issues quickly and methodically when hardware does not behave exactly as expected.
• Investigate structural anomalies, manufacturing deviations, test failures, or integration issues and drive them through root-cause analysis and closure.
• Maintain strong engineering documentation, configuration control, design rationale, test evidence, and traceability for flight hardware. Mentor junior mechanical engineers and designers while raising the overall quality of spacecraft mechanical engineering within the team.

Preferred Experience In Below

• Small satellite structural architecture
• Payload structural design and precision payload mounting
• SAR, Antenna, RF payload, or Earth observation spacecraft
• Lightweight structural optimization
• Honeycomb sandwich panels and composite structures
• Launch vehicle interface design
• Structural qualification and acceptance testing
• Vibration test fixture design and test correlation
• Spacecraft mass properties management
• Thermal structural interaction and dimensional stability
• Mechanism or deployable structure interfaces
• Mechanical interface control documents
• Flight hardware configuration and non conformance management
• Hands on spacecraft AIT activities