Aerospace Structures Engineer

About the role

You will join the structures team of an aerospace company designing the airframe or spacecraft primary structure. The team owns structural integrity from loads development through analysis, testing, and certification. This role matters because structures carry every load the vehicle will ever see, your margins of safety are the last defense against catastrophic failure, and the analysis reports you sign are the evidence airworthiness authorities rely on. You will think in load paths: tracing every force from where it enters the structure to where it reacts out, questioning every joint, cutout, and fastener pattern along the way. Your finite element models will be built with engineering judgment, not just meshing skill, using simplifications you can defend and mesh densities verified through convergence studies. You will develop the checker's mindset even when you are the analyst, reviewing your own work as skeptically as an independent reviewer would. When test results disagree with your analysis, you will investigate with curiosity rather than defensiveness, because the structure is always right and the model is what needs fixing.

What you will achieve

• Deliver structural designs and analyses with positive margins of safety across all load cases, clearing internal review with minimal findings
• Cut analysis cycle time by 25 percent through parametric FEM approaches, standardized methods, and automated reporting
• Own static, fatigue, and damage tolerance analyses for primary structure with test correlation within 10 percent
• Drive weight reduction of 5 percent through optimization and material selection while preserving all margins
• Ship certification-ready stress reports with complete traceability from loads to margins for authority review
• Shorten the analysis-to-test correlation cycle by building pre-test predictions with documented assumptions that make post-test reconciliation fast

What you will bring

Must-haves

• 2 to 5 years of experience in aerospace structural analysis or design roles
• Deep understanding of strength of materials, stability (buckling), and classical hand methods (Bruhn, Niu, Peterson)
• Proficiency with Nastran or Abaqus for linear static, buckling, and modal analysis
• Working knowledge of metallic and composite failure theories and allowables development
• Familiarity with fatigue and damage tolerance principles: S-N curves, crack growth (NASGRO), and inspection intervals
• Ability to develop free-body diagrams, load paths, and conservative modeling assumptions
• Meticulous documentation: stress reports that independent checkers and authorities can follow

Nice-to-haves

• Experience with composite laminate design and analysis (HyperSizer, ESAComp)
• Knowledge of aeroelasticity and flutter analysis interfaces
• Exposure to full-scale static and fatigue testing
• Familiarity with NASA-STD-5001 or FAA AC 20-107B structural substantiation
• Experience with bonded joint analysis and certification approaches