Senior Structures Engineer — Spaceflight Hardware Design

Varda Space; El Segundo (CA); On-site; USD 115,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Varda Space in El Segundo, CA is seeking a Senior Structures Engineer to lead the design, analysis, build and test of primary and secondary spaceflight structures and reentry capsules. You will solve complex problems in a fast‑paced environment and collaborate across mechanical, software, and avionics teams to advance in‑space manufacturing.

The responsibilities include deriving hardware requirements, performing trades, conducting hand calcs and FEA with NX CAD, owning delivery, and developing

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering with 5+ years of relevant experience.
• Strong first principles thinking in structural design, analysis, and testing.
• Experience with structural analyses (Hand Calcs, Ansys, Femap, Nastran).
• Excellent 3D CAD skills (NX) and producing production-ready drawings.
• Experience with PLM systems (Teamcenter).

Responsibilities

• Derive hardware requirements and perform initial design trades.
• Evaluate impact on packaging, thermal, environmental, and loads.
• Own all aspects of hardware delivery.
• Use hand calculations, FEA, and CAD to meet requirements.
• Design and execute development and qualification testing.
• Develop tooling to support hardware integration and testing.
• Technical mentorship of junior engineers.

Skills

NX CAD

FEA analysis

Hand calculations

Nastran

Ansys

Python

Teamcenter PLM

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering

Tools

NX

Ansys

Femap

Nastran

MATLAB

Python

Teamcenter

Job description

Varda Space in El Segundo, CA is seeking a Senior Structures Engineer to lead the design, analysis, build and test of primary and secondary spaceflight structures and reentry capsules. You will solve complex problems in a fast‑paced environment and collaborate across mechanical, software, and avionics teams to advance in‑space manufacturing.

The responsibilities include deriving hardware requirements, performing trades, conducting hand calcs and FEA with NX CAD, owning delivery, and developing