Lead Structural Engineer, Space Vehicle Design

Cowboy Space Corp.; Kent, Northern (WA, KY); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 225,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity in Cowboy Space Corp.

Medical, dental, vision insurance

401(k) retirement savings plan

Paid time off

Relocation assistance

Daily office lunch

Job summary

Cowboy Space Corp. is seeking an experienced Structural Design Engineer to own the vehicle’s primary structures, including airframe, tanks, thrust structure, interstages, raceways, strakes, and thermal protection.

You will ensure the vehicle survives flight, landing, and rapid reuse with minimal mass and maximum reliability. You will lead structural analysis (FEA and hand calcs), define tests, and collaborate with manufacturing to resolve issues on the floor, while driving cycles that close

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, or related engineering.
• 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

Structural design

FEA

Team leadership

Hands-on build/test

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, or related engineering

Tools

FEA tools

Job description

Cowboy Space Corp. is seeking an experienced Structural Design Engineer to own the vehicle’s primary structures, including airframe, tanks, thrust structure, interstages, raceways, strakes, and thermal protection.

You will ensure the vehicle survives flight, landing, and rapid reuse with minimal mass and maximum reliability. You will lead structural analysis (FEA and hand calcs), define tests, and collaborate with manufacturing to resolve issues on the floor, while driving cycles that close