Director of Structures and Mechanisms

Launch has changed the economics of space. Now it is time to return. Outpost is building the missing infrastructure between orbit and Earth: reusable vehicles that bring payloads back from space and deliver them to a precise location within hours, exologistics at planetary scale. Core technologies are advancing toward flight readiness, and we've validated demand through multiple defense and civil agreements with a growing commercial pipeline. We're scaling rapidly, this is the point where execution and scale define the outcome. 

• →Build, grow, and lead the Structures & Mechanisms organization. Recruit, mentor, and develop engineers across multiple sub-disciplines (primary structure, mechanisms, TPS, analysis).
• →Serve as the final sign-off for the structural architecture of the vehicle, including primary structure, interfaces to the deployable heatshield, secondary structures, deployable mechanisms, and payload bay.
• →Partner cross-functionally to resolve system-level trades. Represent Structures in executive reviews, customer milestone reviews, and with government stakeholders.
• →Establish and enforce analysis standards across the team, hand calculations, FEA (ANSYS/FEMAP/NASTRAN), stiffness, buckling, fatigue, and thermal expansion compatibility. Be the final technical check on margin policy and verification logic.
• →Own the release process and quality bar for mechanical manufacturing drawings and geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (ASME Y14.5) across the department.
• →Coordinate with the production team on structural qualification campaign end-to-end, static load, random vibration, shock, deployment, and environmental testing, to certify hardware for flight.
• →Coordinate with the production team to stablish strategic relationships with machine shops, composite vendors, and external partners. Support make-vs-buy decisions and ensure supply chain resilience for precision flight hardware.
• →Brief the CEO, board, customers, and government partners on structural design, risk posture, and program status. 

• Bachelor's degree or higher in Mechanical, Aerospace, or Structural Engineering.
• 10+ years of experience in the design and analysis of complex aerospace structures and mechanisms, with at least 3+ years in a management or technical leadership role leading multi-disciplined engineering teams.
• Proven track record leading structures on space vehicles or rockets.
• Demonstrated experience hiring, scaling, and mentoring engineering teams of 5+ engineers; comfortable setting OKRs, running performance reviews, and managing costs.
• Expert-level fluency in Siemens NX, SolidWorks, or similar parametric modeling software, with the ability to drive standards across the team.
• Experience in structural analysis (FEA) and classical hand calculations. You must trust your hand calcs before you trust the solver.
• Working knowledge of aerospace materials (aluminum, titanium, inconel, composites) and their behavior in extreme thermal environments.
• Deep command of CNC machining, sheet metal, and welding with a design-for-manufacturing mindset you can instill across the org.

• Active U.S. Government Security Clearance (not required, but beneficial).
• Experience with deployable space structures and mechanisms (booms, solar arrays, antennas, or aerobrakes).
• Experience in taking primary structure from concept through PDR/CDR to flight.
• Experience designing for high-heat environments or integrating with Thermal Protection Systems (TPS).
• Deep knowledge of aerospace standards (NASA-STD-5000 series, SMC-S-016) for structural margins and testing.
• Prior experience as a Director, Chief Engineer, or department head at a launch, reentry, satellite, or hypersonics company.