What are the responsibilities and job description for the Senior Structures Engineer position at LEAP?
Your Mission
Conduct in-depth structural analysis for critical rocket structures, components and assemblies, ensuring our vehicle withstands the demanding environment of sub-orbital and orbital flights. You will leverage advanced simulation tools, rigorous hand calculations, and close collaboration with propulsion and design engineers to optimize structural configurations and confirm all load margins.
Key Responsibilities:
- Establish and Validate Flight Loads: Work with propulsion and flight software teams to define dynamic and quasi-static loads. Translate these into boundary conditions and load cases for your analysis
- Perform Advanced Structural Simulations: Use finite element analysis and hand-calculation methods to predict stress distributions, potential failure modes, and allowable margins for vehicle primary and secondary structures, tanks, or other major components
- Optimize Mechanical Design: Provide actionable feedback to design engineers on thicknesses, materials, and geometric features, aiming to maximize reliability while minimizing mass and complexity
- Inform and Interpret Test Data: Recommend instrumentation setups for static and dynamic structural tests, then correlate measured test data with your analytical models to refine future predictions
- Document and Communicate Results: Present concise, data-driven summaries of structural risks and recommended design solutions, ensuring all stakeholders have a clear path to flight readiness
- Drive Resolution: Investigate design changes or anomalies that impact loads, root out the cause, and lead corrective actions to keep flight milestones on track
About You:
- 7 years of experience in structural analysis in the aerospace industry
- A bachelor's or master's in mechanical, aerospace, or a closely related engineering discipline
- Proven proficiency in advanced FEA (ANSYS preferred) handling various nonlinearities (large deformation, material, contact, etc.)
- Deep knowledge of continuum mechanics and stress analysis
- Familiar with aerospace materials (aluminum alloys, steels, composites)
- Excellent leadership and communication skills, capable of guiding the team through design decisions and driving buy-in across multiple stakeholders
Bonus Points:
- A proven track record of production flight hardware builds, from concept to test and flight
- Experience in non-linear, thermo-mechanical or multi-physics simulations
- Composite materials and cryogenic tank design experience
- Experience in topology optimization
About LEAP:
LEAP is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace. Our team brings together exceptionally talented and diverse individuals who are pushing the boundaries of space access and logistics. We welcome all qualified applicants and provide equal consideration for employment regardless of race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, Veteran status, age, or any other protected characteristic under federal, state, or local law.
