Space Structures Analyst: Stress, FEM & Design

Gravitics Inc; Denver (CO); On-site; USD 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Gravitics is seeking an experienced mechanical/aerospace engineer to own the full product lifecycle of space-grade structures, including pressurized vessels, launch adapters, mechanisms, and tooling. You will collaborate with design engineers to validate and optimize designs for strength, weight, and manufacturability.

You will perform FEM/hand calculations, participate in testing, and mentor junior analysts while ensuring mission-critical performance in demanding space environments.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of industry experience in mechanical or aerospace engineering.
• Bachelor’s degree in an applicable field.
• Experience with analyzing / dispositioning non-conformances.
• Experience with hand calculations including free-body diagrams for internal and reaction load derivation.
• Demonstrated knowledge of bolted joint calculations (bolt preload, joint stiffness, shear-tension interaction, insert pull-out, etc.).
• Strong experience with classical and aerospace analysis methods (Bruhn, Niu, Roark, Blodgett, Shigley, etc.).
• Understanding of FEM modeling techniques (boundary conditions, bolted connections, contact, verification methods, etc.).
• Mesh generation (ex: mid-surfacing) and understanding of element types
• Analysis of stability critical structures (local buckling phenomenon, global buckling, crippling)
• Experience with development and/or qualification testing (test requirements, setup/configuration, test predictions, test conduct/monitoring, etc.)
• Demonstrated knowledge of vehicle load path and stress analysis of metallic and/or composite structures (pressure vessels, skin-stringer, fittings, sandwich panels, etc.)
• Demonstrated expertise with at least two of the following pre-post/solver codes: SimCenter, FEMAP, Ansys, Nastran, Optistruct, LS Dyna, Hypermesh, Hypersizer, NASGRO, Abaqus, IMAT

Responsibilities

• Partner directly with design engineers to validate and optimize primary and secondary structural designs for strength, stiffness, weight, cost, and manufacturability
• Perform stress, deflection, stability, and margin of safety analyses using FEM and first-principles hand calculations
• Participate in subsystem test planning, execution, data reduction and analysis
• Analysis checks for designers and junior structural analysts in stress/stability/fracture analysis and best practices
• Prepare technical content and present to internal and external customers
• Ability to perform technical assessment of damage or out of tolerance conditions and provide guidance on repair or use

Skills

3+ years experience in mechanical or

Bolted joint calculations

FEM modeling techniques

Stress analysis

Knowledge of aerospace analysis tools

Education

Bachelor's degree in an applicable field

Tools

SimCenter

FEMAP

Ansys

Nastran

Abaqus

Job description

Gravitics is seeking an experienced mechanical/aerospace engineer to own the full product lifecycle of space-grade structures, including pressurized vessels, launch adapters, mechanisms, and tooling. You will collaborate with design engineers to validate and optimize designs for strength, weight, and manufacturability.

You will perform FEM/hand calculations, participate in testing, and mentor junior analysts while ensuring mission-critical performance in demanding space environments.