Structures Engineer III

ABOUT FIREFLY AEROSPACE

As an end-to-end 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. Firefly is looking for passionate, hardworking innovators to join our team and help fuel our successful trajectory into space. This position is located at our Cedar Park Headquarters, north of Austin, TX.

SUMMARY

Firefly is looking for talented Mechanical or Aerospace Engineers to join our Pressurized Structures Team. As a Structures Responsible Engineer for Pressurized Structures at Firefly, you will develop our state-of-the-art pressurized structures throughout the product life cycle for both Launch Vehicles and Spacecraft. You will 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 can-do 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
• Design and development of composite and metallic pressurized structures for orbital launch applications and spacecraft
• Mass optimization of existing designs and requalifying designs
• Supporting products from conceptual creation, design release, analysis, prototype, qual and production
• Support configuration development and trade studies
• Maintain requirements, activity schedule, budget, and status
• Create CAD, manufacturing drawings, specifications, and other documentation
• Perform first order strength and sizing calculations for your structure

QUALIFICATIONS

Required

• B.S. degree in aerospace or mechanical engineering
• 5+ years of progressive experience in a structural system design-related role
• 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, Simcenter, etc.
• A passion for the structures!

Desired

• Working knowledge of composite manufacturing methods, material selection, testing, and characterization
• Demonstrated experience with composite structures and manufacturing techniques
• Experience taking hardware from analysis, through test, and back through analysis validation
• Familiarity with aerospace standard structural analysis methods (Bruhn, Niu, Roark, etc)

Bonus Points

• Experience with Pressurant or Propellant tanks
• Experience with filament wound and/or AFP structures
• You read about tanks in your spare time – pressurized hardware is what rocks your socks!