Payload Engineer II - Spacecraft Interfaces

Firefly Aerospace; Town of Texas (WI); On-site; USD 95,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Dental & Vision plans

Parental leave

Educational reimbursement

Short-term disability

Flexible PTO

Job summary

Firefly Aerospace's Payload Engineering team seeks a Payload Engineer II to lead design, analysis, and qualification of the payload segment and spacecraft interfaces for the Alpha Launch Vehicle. You will own mechanical interfaces, develop CAD drawings, and guide testing per industry standards, delivering flight-ready hardware.

You will collaborate across functions, mentor junior engineers, and support build and integration activities, with up to 20% travel to customer sites and launches.

Qualifications

• B.S. in Mechanical, Aerospace, or related engineering.
• 3+ years designing, analyzing, and qualifying hardware for aerospace/high-reliability systems.
• Experience with flight-critical structures or mechanisms.
• Experience designing/testing for vibration, shock, vacuum environments.
• Experience with carbon fiber and metallic structures.
• Proficiency with FEA and hand calculations (Ansys, Femap).
• Strong understanding of loads & dynamics for primary structures.
• Experience supporting production, nonconformances, and producibility.
• Ability to define qualification and acceptance tests and interpret data.

Responsibilities

• Develop and produce payload segment and spacecraft interfaces for customers to deliver orbit-ready vehicles.
• Create and manage hardware definition through CAD drawings and documentation.
• Perform analyses including structural margins and tolerance stacks.
• Lead testing programs to qualification and acceptance standards.
• Collaborate across Manufacturing, Quality, and Supply Chain to ensure producibility.
• Support build, integration, and acceptance activities and resolve issues.
• Mentor junior engineers and act as SME in customer meetings.
• Travel up to 20% as needed.

Skills

Aerospace hardware design

Flight-critical structures

Extreme environment testing

Carbon fiber & metallic structures

FEA & hand calculations

Loads & dynamics

Producibility collaboration

Scripting for analysis

Final stage integration experience

Education

B.S. in Mechanical, Aerospace, or related engineering

M.S./Ph.D. in Mechanical/Aerospace or 5+ years in aerospace hardware design

Tools

CAD software

Ansys

Femap

Job description

Firefly Aerospace's Payload Engineering team seeks a Payload Engineer II to lead design, analysis, and qualification of the payload segment and spacecraft interfaces for the Alpha Launch Vehicle. You will own mechanical interfaces, develop CAD drawings, and guide testing per industry standards, delivering flight-ready hardware.

You will collaborate across functions, mentor junior engineers, and support build and integration activities, with up to 20% travel to customer sites and launches.