Lead, Space Vehicle Primary Structures

Cowboy Space; San Carlos (CA); On-site; CAD 209,000 - 314,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity in Cowboy Space Corp.

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

401(k) retirement savings plan

Paid time off

10 paid holidays per calendar year

Paid parental leave

Relocation assistance

Daily lunch in the office

Job summary

Cowboy Space Corp. is seeking a senior structural engineer to own the design, build, and performance of the vehicle's primary structures, including airframe, tanks, thrust structure, interstages and thermal protection.

You will ensure the vehicle survives flight, landing, and rapid reuse with minimal mass. You will lead structural analysis (FEA and hand calcs), drive test campaigns, and work with manufacturing to iterate quickly on the floor.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, or related engineering field.
• 8+ years of experience in structural design, analysis, or mechanisms for flight hardware or high-performance systems.
• Experience with load paths, structural sizing, and material selection.
• Hands-on experience taking hardware from design through build and test.
• Experience leading engineers or a team

Responsibilities

• Own the primary airframe: propellant tanks, interstages, and thrust structure from concept through flight.
• Drive structural design for minimum mass while meeting strength, stiffness, fatigue, and thermal requirements.
• Ensure hardware survives combined ascent, entry, landing, and reuse environments.
• Lead structural analysis (FEA, hand calcs) and validate with test and flight data.
• Define and execute structural test campaigns (component, subscale, full-scale).
• Work directly with manufacturing to iterate quickly and resolve build issues on the floor.
• Identify and close failure modes through rapid design-test-learn cycles.
• Support flight operations, anomaly investigation, and post-flight inspection/refurbishment improvements.

Skills

Leadership experience

Structural design & analysis

Hands-on hardware development

FEA tools

Cryogenic structures familiarity

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace or Mechanical engineering

Tools

FEA software

Job description

Cowboy Space Corp. is seeking a senior structural engineer to own the design, build, and performance of the vehicle's primary structures, including airframe, tanks, thrust structure, interstages and thermal protection.

You will ensure the vehicle survives flight, landing, and rapid reuse with minimal mass. You will lead structural analysis (FEA and hand calcs), drive test campaigns, and work with manufacturing to iterate quickly on the floor.