Structures Engineer III (Unpressurized Structures)

ABOUT FIREFLY AEROSPACE

As an end-to-end responsive space transportation company, Firefly Aerospace is on a mission to enable our world to launch, land, and operate in space – anywhere, anytime. Our launch vehicles, lunar landers, and orbital vehicles provide government and commercial customers with full mission services from low Earth orbit to the surface of the Moon and beyond. Headquartered in north Austin, Texas, Firefly is looking for passionate, hardworking innovators to join our team and help fuel our successful trajectory into space.

SUMMARY

Firefly is looking for talented structures engineers to develop our state-of-the-art composite structure throughout the product life cycle. You’ll be part of a highly skilled, dynamic team that will involve you in all aspects of analysis, design, fabrication, and testing. Excellent collaboration and communication skills, along with a positive attitude are critical.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Firefly engineers own and influence the entire hardware design cycle including conceptual design, structural layout, sizing analysis, hardware production, and structural testing
• Composite and metallic Primary structures for orbital launch applications
• Composite pressurized structures analysis, design, and/or manufacturing
• Design of structural joints with bonded and bolted configurations
• Light weighting existing designs and requalifying designs
• Supporting products from conceptual design, formal design, analysis, protype, qualification and production
• Support configuration development and trade studies
• Finite Element Model development, refinement, validation, and postprocessing
• Maintain requirements, activity schedule, budget, and status
• Create CAD, manufacturing drawings, specifications, and other documentation
• Perform first order strength and sizing calculations for your responsible structure

QUALIFICATIONS

Required

• B.S. degree in aerospace, mechanical, or civil engineering and 3+ years of experience in aerospace or related structures engineering.
• Strong design and integration skills using 3-D CAD software (Siemens NX / FiberSim preferable).
• Ability to effectively work in a multi-discipline team and provide technical guidance and insight.
• Experience with industry FEA/FEM tools like Nastran, ANSYS, FEMAP, etc.
• Experience designing and analyzing composite structure and/or pressure vessels.
• High degree of mechanical understanding.
• Demonstrated experience with composite structures and manufacturing techniques.
• Having a working knowledge of different fiber and resin systems is a plus.
• Having experience with additive manufacturing techniques is a plus.
• Working knowledge of light weight alloys commonly used in aerospace/and space application and pros and cons of different material selection.

Desired

• M.S. degree in aerospace or mechanical engineering and/or 5+ years of experience.
• Working knowledge of composite manufacturing methods, material selection, testing, characterization & Allowables development.
• Fluency with composite structure materials, analysis, design, and/or manufacturing.
• Experience developing physical tests to validate analysis and evaluate assumptions.
• Familiarity with aerospace standard structural analysis methods (Bruhn, Niu, Roark, etc).
• Experience designing structure for varying thermal environments.

Firefly offers outstanding benefits for our employees, including generous health, dental and vision plans with low plan deductibles, parental leave, educational reimbursement, short term disability, and flexible PTO options.

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Firefly Aerospace, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Firefly is governed based on merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status