Senior Director, Space Vehicle Structures

Cowboy Space Corp.; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 190,000 - 225,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Insurance (medical, dental, vision)

401(k)

Paid time off

10 holidays per calendar year

Parental leave

Relocation assistance

Office lunch

Job summary

Cowboy Space Corp. is seeking a senior structural engineer to design and optimize the vehicle's primary structures, including airframe, tanks, and thrust structure, with emphasis on light-weight, reliable performance for reusable flight.

You will lead structural analysis, coordinate with manufacturing, and drive test campaigns from concept through flight data, while aligning with ITAR and space industry standards.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in aerospace, mechanical, or related field.
• 8+ years of structural design, analysis, or mechanisms experience.
• 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 analysis

Flight hardware

Leadership

Materials selection

Prototype & test

Education

Bachelors in Aerospace/Mechanical or related

Tools

FEA software

CAD software

Testing equipment

Job description

Cowboy Space Corp. is seeking a senior structural engineer to design and optimize the vehicle's primary structures, including airframe, tanks, and thrust structure, with emphasis on light-weight, reliable performance for reusable flight.

You will lead structural analysis, coordinate with manufacturing, and drive test campaigns from concept through flight data, while aligning with ITAR and space industry standards.