Senior Space Nuclear Structures Engineer

53 Stations; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 145,000 - 185,000; Full time

Job summary

Antares is hiring a Structural Engineer to own analysis and dynamics for space nuclear systems, from concept through development and test. You will perform first-order analyses, build detailed FE models, and guide design decisions for launch-ready hardware in a demanding aerospace environment.

The role requires strong fundamentals in stress, stiffness, dynamics, and FEA, plus comfort with incomplete requirements and cross-functional collaboration across design, thermal, reactor, and test teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Civil/Structural Engineering, Engineering Mechanics, or related discipline.
• 5+ years of experience in structural analysis, stress analysis, structural dynamics, aerospace structures, or related field.
• Experience building and running finite element models for complex mechanical or aerospace hardware.
• Experience analyzing static loads, modal response, random vibration, acoustic environments, fatigue, thermal stress, or coupled structural loads.
• Experience with FEA tools such as NASTRAN, FEMAP, Patran, Abaqus, ANSYS, HyperMesh, OptiStruct, Simcenter, NX, or equivalent.

Responsibilities

• Own stress analysis and structural dynamics for space nuclear hardware across components and integrated systems.
• Support mechanical design and perform structural design work for brackets, panels, reactor supports, and flight-like development hardware.
• Conduct hand calculations and rapid analytical assessments for stress, stiffness, margins, and load paths.
• Build, correlate, and maintain FE models at multiple levels.
• Run static, modal, random vibration, acoustic, coupled loads, and thermal-structural analyses.
• Define analysis plans, load cases, boundaries, margins, and verification approaches for flight hardware.
• Develop launch loads derivation and qualification/test strategies.
• Interpret launch environments and derive subsystem loads for design requirements.
• Specify tests for vibration, modal, acoustic, and structural development.
• Own vibration test planning and execution, including fixture design and data review.
• Support in-house vibration test capability, including facility integration and safety.
• Participate in design/test reviews, communicating structural risks and verification status.
• Drive root-cause investigations for failures and model-test gaps.
• Develop reusable analysis methods and templates for efficiency.

Skills

Stress analysis

Structural dynamics

FEA

Hand calculations

Vibration analysis

Thermal-structural analysis

Python

Test planning

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical/ Aerospace/ Civil-Structural Engineering

Tools

NASTRAN

FEMAP

Patran

Abaqus

ANSYS

HyperMesh

OptiStruct

Python

Job description

Antares is hiring a Structural Engineer to own analysis and dynamics for space nuclear systems, from concept through development and test. You will perform first-order analyses, build detailed FE models, and guide design decisions for launch-ready hardware in a demanding aerospace environment.

The role requires strong fundamentals in stress, stiffness, dynamics, and FEA, plus comfort with incomplete requirements and cross-functional collaboration across design, thermal, reactor, and test teams.