Space Nuclear Structures Lead — Vibration & Dynamics

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

Job summary

Antares is hiring a Space Structural Analyst to own structural analysis and dynamics for space nuclear systems, including reactor, spacecraft, radiator, payload, and support hardware. You will perform first‑order analysis, build FEMs, derive launch and test loads, and guide architectures from concept to hardware development, collaborating across mechanical, thermal, reactor, and systems teams.

Ideal candidates bring strong fundamentals in stress, stiffness, dynamics, FEMs, and practical

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical/Aerospace or related field.
• 5+ years in structural analysis and dynamics for aerospace hardware.
• Strong fundamentals in solid mechanics, stiffness, dynamics, fatigue.
• Experience building and running FEM for complex hardware.

Responsibilities

• Own stress analysis and structural dynamics for space nuclear hardware, including component, assembly, subsystem, and integrated vehicle‑level structures.
• Support mechanical design and perform targeted structural design work for brackets, panels, reactor support structures, radiator structures, payload interfaces, test fixtures, and flight‑like development hardware.
• Perform first‑order hand calculations and rapid analytical assessments for stress, stiffness, margin, load paths, bolted joints, welds, bonded joints, fasteners, interfaces, and structural stability.
• Build, correlate, and maintain finite element models at the component, assembly, subsystem, and integrated system level.
• Run detailed structural analyses, including static strength, stiffness, modal, random vibration, acoustic, coupled loads, thermal stress, CTE mismatch, fatigue, and shock‑related assessments.
• Support coupled thermal‑structural analysis for space nuclear systems, including thermal stress, gradients, interface distortion, alignment effects, and thermomechanical compatibility between dissimilar materials.
• Define structural analysis plans, load cases, boundary conditions, assumptions, margins, and verification approaches for flight and development hardware.
• Develop plans for launch loads derivation, test loads definition, qualification strategy, acceptance testing, and structural verification.
• Work with systems and vehicle teams to interpret launch provider environments, derive subsystem‑level loads, and flow loads into design and test requirements.
• Specify vibration, modal, acoustic, and structural development tests for components, assemblies, and subsystems.
• Own vibration test planning and execution, including fixture design, instrumentation planning, test article preparation, test procedure development, data review, anomaly resolution, and post‑test correlation.
• Support procurement, commissioning, and operation of in‑house vibration test capability, including vibe table requirements, facility integration, test safety, instrumentation, and operating procedures.
• Participate in design reviews, test readiness reviews, failure reviews, and customer‑facing technical reviews, clearly communicating structural risks, margins, model assumptions, and verification status.
• Drive root‑cause investigations for structural failures, test anomalies, model‑test correlation gaps, and hardware nonconformances.
• Develop reusable analysis methods, templates, and workflows that improve structural design speed, consistency, and technical rigor across Antares space nuclear programs.

Skills

Finite element analysis

Stress analysis

Structural dynamics

Launch loads

FEM tools

Python

Team collaboration

Education

Bachelor in Mechanical/Aerospace Engineering

Master's preferred

Tools

NASTRAN

FEMAP

Patran

Abaqus

ANSYS

HyperMesh

Simcenter

NX

Python scripting

Job description

Antares is hiring a Space Structural Analyst to own structural analysis and dynamics for space nuclear systems, including reactor, spacecraft, radiator, payload, and support hardware. You will perform first‑order analysis, build FEMs, derive launch and test loads, and guide architectures from concept to hardware development, collaborating across mechanical, thermal, reactor, and systems teams.

Ideal candidates bring strong fundamentals in stress, stiffness, dynamics, FEMs, and practical