Senior Staff Structural Analyst (Spacecraft Engineering)

Location: Onsite in Louisville, Colorado or San Francisco, California, United States. Travel up to 10% domestically or internationally.

Base salary: $192,979–$276,722 USD, plus bonus, equity, and benefits.

Company

hirify.global develops quantum computing, networking, sensing, and security platforms; Capella delivers mission-ready intelligence and advanced sensing solutions for space and national security.

What you will do

• Perform detailed structural analyses for spacecraft, payloads, and ground support hardware across static, dynamic, thermal, nonlinear, buckling, fatigue, fracture, contact, and large-deformation cases.
• Develop, correlate, and maintain high-fidelity finite element models and standardized analysis methods for design, qualification, and vehicle-level assessments.
• Generate launch loads, vibration, shock, acoustic, thermal limits, and structural margins of safety.
• Develop and validate Craig-Bampton reduced-order models for integrated vehicle dynamics and deliver models to launch service providers.
• Support qualification and acceptance testing through pre-test predictions, fixture and test setup reviews, notching, response evaluation, and post-test correlation.
• Partner with design, manufacturing, systems, test, and program teams on trade studies, design reviews, anomaly investigations, and corrective actions.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related discipline.
• 5+ years of structural analysis experience supporting aerospace or spaceflight hardware.
• Strong knowledge of mechanics of materials, structural dynamics, aerospace structural design, launch environments, vibration, shock, and acoustic loading.
• Experience analyzing metallic and composite structures using classical calculations, FEA, and computer-aided methods; familiarity with aerospace materials, fasteners, joints, bonded assemblies, drawings, GD&T, and manufacturing processes.
• Experience generating and correlating Craig-Bampton reduced-order models.
• NASTRAN experience and proficiency with HyperMesh, Patran, FEMAP, or equivalent pre/post-processing tools.
• Must meet U.S. export-control requirements as a U.S. Person or be eligible to obtain the necessary authorizations.

Nice to have

• Experience with spacecraft, satellites, launch vehicles, or commercial and government spaceflight programs.
• Experience correlating analytical models with qualification and flight-test data.
• Experience with additively manufactured structures and NASA, DoD, ESA, or commercial space verification requirements.
• Experience with SolidWorks, ANSYS, Adams, NASGRO, ABAQUS, Python, MATLAB, optimization, automation, or ARAS.

Culture & Benefits

• Collaborative engineering environment focused on rigorous analysis, precision, and mission-critical results.
• Opportunity to develop analysis tools and processes during an early stage of organizational growth.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance with matching 401(k).
• Unlimited paid time off, paid holidays, parental and adoption leave, legal insurance, and a home technology stipend.