Senior Payload Engineer – Aerospace Systems

Firefly Aerospace; Town of Texas (WI); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, and vision plans

Parental leave

Educational reimbursement

Short term disability

Flexible PTO

Job summary

Firefly Aerospace is seeking a Payload Engineer III to lead the design, analysis, development, and qualification of the payload segment and spacecraft interfaces for Alpha launch vehicles. You’ll own the hardware lifecycle from concept through flight, defining interfaces and documenting requirements for customers.

You will work closely with cross-functional teams to ensure hardware is producible, testable, and flight-ready, while mentoring junior engineers and supporting customer interfaces.

Qualifications

• B.S. in Mechanical, Aerospace, or related engineering field.
• 6+ years designing, analyzing, and qualifying hardware for aerospace/high-reliability systems.
• Experience with flight-critical structures or mechanisms.
• Design and test for extreme environments including vibration, shock, vacuum.
• Experience with carbon fiber and metallic structures.
• Proficiency with FEA and hand-calculation methods (Ansys, Femap).
• Understanding loads and dynamics for primary structures.
• Experience supporting production builds and nonconformances.
• Ability to define qualification/acceptance test programs and interpret test data.
• Experience with launch vehicle/spacecraft programs from development to flight.

Responsibilities

• Develop and produce payload segment and spacecraft interfaces for customers to deliver launch vehicle orbit goals.
• Create and manage hardware definitions via CAD, drawings, and documentation.
• Perform detailed analyses including structural margins, thermal effects, and tolerances.
• Lead testing to qualification and acceptance standards (e.g., SMC-S016, GEVS).
• Collaborate with Manufacturing, Quality, and Supply Chain to ensure producibility and flight-readiness.
• Support build, integration, and acceptance activities; resolve fit and performance issues.
• Provide technical mentorship to junior engineers and represent in customer meetings.

Skills

6+ years experience

Flight-critical structures

Loads & dynamics

FEA (Ansys/Femap)

Design for extreme environments

Qualification & acceptance test design

Customer facing technical roles

Scripting for analysis

Final stage integration hardware

Education

B.S. in Mechanical/Aerospace engineering

MS/PhD in Mechanical/Aerospace or 8+ years experience

Tools

CAD tools

Ansys/Femap

Job description

Firefly Aerospace is seeking a Payload Engineer III to lead the design, analysis, development, and qualification of the payload segment and spacecraft interfaces for Alpha launch vehicles. You’ll own the hardware lifecycle from concept through flight, defining interfaces and documenting requirements for customers.

You will work closely with cross-functional teams to ensure hardware is producible, testable, and flight-ready, while mentoring junior engineers and supporting customer interfaces.