Sr. Loads & Dynamics Engineer

ABOUT FIREFLY AEROSPACE

As an end-to-end space transportation company, Firefly Aerospace is on a mission to enable our world to launch, land, and operate in space – anywhere, anytime. Our launch vehicles, lunar landers, and orbital vehicles provide government and commercial customers with full mission services from low Earth orbit to the surface of the Moon and beyond. Headquartered in north Austin, Texas, Firefly is looking for passionate, hardworking innovators to join our team and help fuel our successful trajectory into space.

SUMMARY

We are looking for a Loads Engineer to help with analyzing low frequency loads and performing Coupled Loads Analysis (CLA) on our Alpha launch vehicle. A successful candidate should be able to synthesize heritage launch and ground test data, industry standards, and Firefly Aerospace processes to develop internal and external loads for our launch vehicles and perform Coupled Loads Analysis for our customers while following the Pareto Principle (80/20 rule).

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Perform Coupled Loads Analysis (CLA) of the Alpha launch vehicle with customer payload models
• Create, own, and maintain Finite Element Models (FEM) of Firefly launch vehicles
• Develop, own, and maintain external and internal loads for Firefly launch vehicles
• Develop and apply the forcing functions for all flight events including aerodynamic loads (gust, buffet, etc.), TVC, engine startup / shutdown, and separation events
• Perform checkouts on customer Hurty/Craig-Bampton Models and integrate them to the Alpha FEM
• Develop and document scripts for postprocessing analysis results into loads and other output products using Python (PyYeti)
• Provide guidance for flight dynamics related testing and vehicle instrumentation
• Performing signal analysis of test and flight data
• Document analyses

QUALIFICATIONS

Required

• Bachelor’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, or related field
• 5+ years of experience in launch vehicle dynamic analysis
• Direct experience performing launch vehicle Coupled Loads Analysis
• Direct experience working with Hurty/Craig-Bampton or other superelement models
• Proficient with performing analytical simulations in NASTRAN, FEMAP, and ADAMS or other industry standard modeling and analysis toolsets
• Experience with MATLAB and Python
• Proficiency with signal analysis in both time and frequency domains
• Proficiency with random data and transient analysis

Desired

• Master’s Degree or higher in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, or related field
• 8+ years of experience in launch vehicle coupled loads analysis
• Expertise in the PyYeti Python module
• Familiarity with relevant SMC / Range / NASA standards for analysis and test
• Experience with use of test / flight data to verify FEM results

Firefly offers outstanding benefits for our employees, including generous health, dental and vision plans with low plan deductibles, parental leave, educational reimbursement, short term disability, pet Insurance, and flexible PTO options.

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Firefly Aerospace, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Firefly is governed based on merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.