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Senior Structures Engineer

Cowboy Space Corporation· Structures
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Kent, Washington$172k - $203kFull-timePosted yesterday

About the role

Senior Structures Engineer responsible for design and development of primary tanks and welded structures for the launch vehicle, from requirements and sizing through fabrication, qualification, and flight readiness, collaborating with analysis, fluids, propulsion, manufacturing, and test teams.

Responsibilities

  • Own the full lifecycle of primary tanks and welded structures—from requirements, architecture, and preliminary sizing through drawing release, fabrication, testing, and flight readiness.
  • Design tank barrels, domes, bulkheads, weld joints, penetrations, attachments, and supporting structures with clear load paths and well-defined interfaces.
  • Perform first-order sizing and design trades to balance structural performance, mass, manufacturability, inspectability, cost, and schedule.
  • Work with structural analysts to establish design load cases and verify strength, buckling, fatigue, and damage tolerance under pressure, thermal, and vehicle loads. Incorporate analysis and test findings into the design.
  • Develop and release CAD models, engineering drawings, and specifications, including material requirements, GD&T, weld details, and inspection requirements.
  • Partner with manufacturing and welding engineers to develop practical fabrication and assembly approaches, accounting for fit-up, tooling access, weld distortion, tolerances, and inspection access.
  • Define hardware verification requirements and support proof, burst, leak, and structural testing, including test configurations, fixtures, instrumentation needs, and acceptance criteria.
  • Support fabrication and test operations directly. Investigate anomalies, evaluate nonconformances and proposed repairs with analysis, manufacturing, and quality teams, and drive design improvements.
  • Lead design reviews, manage structural interfaces and configuration changes, and mentor engineers in structural design and hardware development.

Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field.
  • 7+ years of experience designing and developing structures for flight vehicles, propulsion systems, or other high-performance hardware.
  • Demonstrated ownership of metallic tanks, pressure vessels, or thin-walled welded structures from design through manufacturing and test.
  • Strong fundamentals in solid mechanics, structural stability, materials behavior, and joint design, including an understanding of pressure loading, buckling, fatigue, and the effects of welding on structural performance.
  • Proficiency with mechanical CAD, engineering drawings, GD&T, and tolerance analysis.
  • Ability to substantiate design decisions with classical hand calculations and interpret structural analysis results in partnership with analysts.
  • Experience working directly with manufacturing, inspection, and test teams to resolve hardware issues.
  • Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

Skills

Required:Primary tanks and welded structures designCAD modeling and drawingsStructural analysis collaborationManufacturing liaisonQuality and testing

Benefits

  • Equity in Cowboy Space Corp.
  • Medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and their eligible dependents
  • 401(k) retirement savings plan
  • Paid time off
  • 10 paid holidays per calendar year
  • Paid parental leave
  • Relocation assistance if applicable
  • Daily lunch in the office and a fully stocked kitchen with beverages and snacks.
Last updated Oct 25, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About Cowboy Space Corporation

Powering Humanity From the High Frontier

Cowboy Space Corp. is building a power grid in outer space for artificial intelligence. It is an integrated system of satellites and rockets to haul high-performance compute and optical data transmission down from Low Earth Orbit. Earth's energy grid can't run at the pace of AI. We can.

Orbital Data CentersAI compute in spacesolar-powered data centersLow Earth Orbitpower grid in space
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