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Salary: USD 172,000 - 203,000 / annual
Cowboy Space Corporation is building space-based solar energy infrastructure using modular, scalable satellites in Low Earth Orbit. The company transmits energy via infrared lasers, powers on-orbit high-performance computing clusters, and provides secure optical data transport. Founded in 2024 by Baiju Bhatt (co-founder of Robinhood), the company has raised ~$365 million from top-tier investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, and Breakthrough Energy Ventures. The team includes veterans from SpaceX, Blue Origin, Stoke Space, Astranis, and NASA.
As a Senior Structures Engineer, you will own the complete lifecycle of primary tanks and welded structures for the launch vehicle—from requirements and first-order sizing through detailed design, fabrication, qualification, and flight readiness. You will design tank barrels, domes, bulkheads, weld joints, penetrations, and attachments with clear load paths and well-defined interfaces. Your responsibilities include performing first-order sizing and design trades to balance structural performance, mass, manufacturability, inspectability, cost, and schedule.
You will collaborate closely with structural analysis, fluids, propulsion, manufacturing, and test teams to develop structural architectures and resolve issues as hardware moves from design to production. You'll develop and release CAD models, engineering drawings, and specifications including material requirements, GD&T, weld details, and inspection requirements. Working directly with manufacturing and welding engineers, you'll develop practical fabrication and assembly approaches accounting for fit-up, tooling access, weld distortion, tolerances, and inspection access.
You will define hardware verification requirements and support proof, burst, leak, and structural testing. You'll investigate anomalies, evaluate nonconformances and proposed repairs with analysis, manufacturing, and quality teams, and drive design improvements. You'll lead design reviews, manage structural interfaces and configuration changes, and mentor engineers in structural design and hardware development. This role demands moving quickly, iterating often, spending time with hardware, and taking full ownership of the structures you deliver.
REQUIREMENTS:
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or 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 understanding of pressure loading, buckling, fatigue, and 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 U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted as refugee or granted asylum
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:
- Direct experience designing launch vehicle primary structures or cryogenic propellant tanks
- Experience with stainless-steel tank construction, sheet and plate forming, and welded assemblies
- Experience developing weld-joint designs and supporting weld-process qualification
- Experience with reusable or repeatedly pressurized hardware, including thermal cycling, fatigue life, inspection access, and repair considerations
- Experience supporting structural qualification campaigns, pressure testing, and failure investigations
- Familiarity with aerospace structural standards, pressure-vessel requirements, and material allowables sources such as MMPDS
- Experience taking hardware from early development into repeatable production and improving designs based on fabrication and test results
