Spacecraft Structures Engineer II - Lunar & Orbital

Firefly Aerospace, Inc.; Cedar Park (TX); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Unlimited PTO (exempt)

3-month sabbatical for every 5 years

Medical, dental, vision, life, and dis

Mental health services

Paid military leave

12 weeks maternity leave

4 weeks spouse leave

$20k towards family planning

Dog friendly workplace

$10k/year towards trade school/college

Employee ownership with stock bonuses

4% Safe Harbor 401(k) matching

$10k home purchase bonus in Cedar Park

Job summary

Firefly Aerospace, Inc. is seeking an experienced spacecraft structures engineer to develop primary and secondary structures for the Blue Ghost Lunar Lander and Elytra vehicles.

You will join a skilled team involved in design, fabrication, testing, and verification across the product lifecycle. Responsibilities include designing composite/metallic structures, optimizing mass and production, supporting manufacturing, and ensuring requirements compliance.

Qualifications

• B.S. degree in aerospace, mechanical, or civil engineering with 3+ years in aerospace or related structures engineering.
• Strong design/integration skills using 3-D CAD software (Siemens NX / FiberSim preferable).
• Understanding of ASME Y14.5 and drafting techniques for component/assembly specs.
• Ability to work in a multi-disciplinary team and provide technical guidance.
• Experience with precision structural integration and manufacturing techniques.
• MS degree in aerospace or mechanical engineering and/or 5+ years of experience.
• Experience with composite manufacturing methods, material selection, testing, and characterization.
• Experience with industry FEA/FEM tools (Nastran, ANSYS, FEMAP, Simcenter).
• Experience with honeycomb panel design and manufacturing, heat pipe integration, thermal control systems.
• Experience with vehicle-level static and vibroacoustic testing.
• Familiarity with aerospace standard structural analysis methods (Bruhn, Niu, Roark).

Responsibilities

• Own and influence the entire hardware design cycle from conceptual design to testing.
• Design and development of composite and metallic structures for orbital/lander spacecraft.
• Mass and production rate optimization of existing designs and requalifications.
• Support production teams with onsite review and verification and resolve non-conformances.
• Support configuration development and trade studies for future missions.
• Maintain requirements compliance, delivery schedules, mass budgets, and cross-team collaboration.
• Create CAD drawings, specifications, analysis reports, test plans and reports.
• Perform first-order strength and sizing calculations with stress/dynamics teams.

Skills

3+ years aerospace structures

3-D CAD (NX)

ASME Y14.5 drafting

multi-discipline collaboration

structural integration

FEA/FEM tools (Nastran/ANSYS)

Education

B.S. in aerospace/mechanical/civil engineering

M.S. in aerospace/mechanical (advantage)

Tools

Siemens NX

FiberSim

Nastran

ANSYS

FEMAP

Simcenter

Job description

Firefly Aerospace, Inc. is seeking an experienced spacecraft structures engineer to develop primary and secondary structures for the Blue Ghost Lunar Lander and Elytra vehicles.

You will join a skilled team involved in design, fabrication, testing, and verification across the product lifecycle. Responsibilities include designing composite/metallic structures, optimizing mass and production, supporting manufacturing, and ensuring requirements compliance.