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Salary: USD 100,800 - 138,600 / annual
Rocket Lab is the end-to-end space company building rockets, spacecraft, and critical subsystems that keep the world connected, protected, and expand humanity's reach to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The Space Systems team has enabled more than 1,700 missions, ranging from interplanetary exploration and in-space manufacturing to national security and defense initiatives, working with partners including NASA, the Space Development Agency, and the U.S. Space Force.
As a Spacecraft Structural Analysis Engineer II based in Long Beach, CA, you will contribute to the analysis, design validation, and future improvements of Rocket Lab's suite of Space Systems and Space Components. You will define loads and environments, perform detailed simulations and physics-based analysis, guide design, and help validate analysis, design, and system performance through test. You will support the Vehicle Design Director and Space Systems organization with deliverables required for internal leadership, board of directors, and investors.
Key responsibilities include:
- Define, process, and interpret static and dynamic ground test and flight data, including sensor selection, data acquisition and validation, and environmental determination (random vibration, shock, quasi-static, acoustic, pressure, and thermal)
- Perform, validate, and document structural analyses of primary and secondary vehicle structures, including finite element model verification and validation, material selection, trade-off studies, and mass optimization
- Perform structural and dynamic simulations, including static, modal, random vibration, buckling, and thermoelastic analysis
- Work closely with design and test engineers to iterate through design concepts, determine test requirements, and demonstrate positive structural margins
- Define test requirements and directly support testing of vehicle subsystems and components
- Lead technical projects and programs as required, both within analysis and across disciplines and teams
- Help implement new theory and tools within the team and establish best practices in areas of technical expertise
QUALIFICATIONS:
Required:
- Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering or other engineering discipline
- Eligible to obtain and maintain a security clearance
- U.S. citizenship required due to program requirements (ITAR compliance)
- 2+ years of structural analysis experience in the aerospace industry
- Experience using NX Nastran, NX CAD, and Teamcenter packages
Desired:
- Master's or PhD in mechanical engineering or other engineering discipline
- Active security clearance
- Experience analyzing additive manufactured parts
- Experience with sensor selection and data post-processing/interpretation (accelerometers, strain gauges, etc.)
- Experience in structural analysis of composites (laminate design, joint design, materials characterization, environmental effects)
- Familiarity with nonlinear material simulation, including metal plasticity, elastomers, and adhesive joints
- Experience in spacecraft-level structural test campaign design, execution, data processing, and validation
