Lead Structures Specialist

Senior / Principal Structures Engineer

Location: Canada (Relocation Supported)
Type: Full-time, On-site

About the Opportunity

An ambitious launch vehicle company is building a next-generation orbital launch system and is looking for a Senior / Principal Structures Engineer to own critical structural hardware from concept through flight.

This is not a pure analysis role. You'll be responsible for designing, developing, validating, and delivering flight hardware, working across the full engineering lifecycle in a fast-moving development environment. You'll have significant ownership over major launch vehicle structures and work alongside propulsion, manufacturing, test, integration, and systems teams to bring hardware from CAD to the launch pad.

The company is led by engineers from some of the world's leading space organizations and is building a culture around rapid development, hardware ownership, and practical engineering.

Responsibilities

• Own major structural hardware from concept through flight qualification.
• Translate system requirements into lightweight, manufacturable structural designs.
• Design primary load-bearing structures and develop efficient load paths.
• Perform structural sizing using both first-principles calculations and finite element analysis.
• Develop joints, interfaces, and structural layouts for highly loaded aerospace hardware.
• Correlate analysis with physical test data and continuously improve designs.
• Work closely with manufacturing to ensure designs are practical and producible.
• Support hardware throughout fabrication, assembly, testing, anomaly resolution, and design iteration.
• Drive material selection and manufacturing decisions balancing performance, cost, schedule, and reliability.
• Participate in design reviews and help establish engineering standards and structural design philosophy.
• Mentor other engineers and contribute technically across the structures team.

Required Experience

• 7+ years of structural engineering experience within aerospace or another high-performance engineering industry.
• Strong experience designing primary or highly loaded structural hardware.
• Excellent understanding of:
  • Strength of materials
  • Structural mechanics
  • Buckling
  • Fatigue
  • Fracture mechanics
  • Structural dynamics
  • Load paths
• Experience taking hardware from concept through manufacturing, testing, and qualification.
• Strong finite element analysis (FEA) capability alongside solid first-principles engineering.
• Hands-on experience supporting manufactured hardware.
• Experience working closely with manufacturing and test engineers.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced engineering environment with significant ownership.

Highly Desirable

Candidates with experience in any of the following will stand out:

• Launch vehicle structures
• Rocket propulsion structures
• Thrust frames
• Propellant tanks
• Pressure vessels
• Interstages
• Fairings
• Cryogenic structures
• Thin-walled shell structures
• Welded tanks
• Domes
• Ring frames
• Engine support structures

Additional experience with:

• Metallic aerospace structures
• Machined components
• Weldments
• Bonded structures
• Structural testing (proof, burst, modal, vibration, acoustic)
• Rapid design-build-test engineering environments