Loads & Dynamics Engineer (Starship)

The Starship Dynamics team is responsible for all dynamic and vibration analyses on the Starship, Super Heavy and HLS vehicles and works closely with Starship Responsible Engineers to drive hardware and mission design decisions. To that end, the team is responsible for a wide range of dynamics engineering disciplines, broken down into several sub-teams, all of which are accepting applications.

The Multibody Dynamics team solves rigid body dynamics problems such as mechanism and kinematics, vehicle landing/catch and payload deployment. The Loads team is responsible for the structural loads and dynamics of the primary structure and payloads. This includes Coupled Loads Analysis (CLA), modal analysis and testing, integrated analysis and tool development, and flight/test operations support. The Environments team is the experts in vibration and aeroacoustics. This includes vibration and shock level derivations and testing, predicting and measuring vibroacoustic loads due to aeroacoustic environments (acoustics, buffet, over pressure, unsteady flow) as well as engine dynamics. The Fluid Transients team predicts unsteady and modal fluid dynamics for understanding of waterhammer, pogo and cavitation dynamics.

Dynamics engineers are expected to have a strong intuition of dynamic systems and a good understanding of a broad range of engineering disciplines, in addition to having solid software and analytical skills. You do not need to meet 100% of the preferred qualifications to be considered. We encourage anyone who meets the basic qualifications and is interested in the role to apply. We are looking for curious, enthusiastic and dedicated people to join our team, and we want the opportunity to talk to you!

• →Resolve dynamics problems through analysis, test and the use of flight data
• →Own system level analysis and drive hardware modifications or vehicle operations across vehicle engineering teams
• →Build finite element and lumped element models of launch vehicle systems for derivation of vehicle or component loads
• →Execute dynamic testing from start-to-finish (pre-test analysis, sensor selection & installation, testing, data analysis, signal processing and model correlation)
• →Perform component and vehicle-level analyses using commercial and in-house codes as well as develop and write new code

• Bachelor’s degree in an engineering or related discipline
• 1+ years of experience with structural dynamic analyses or system dynamics modeling (can be in a professional, academic, entrepreneurial, or hobby setting)

• Hands-on experience either analyzing data or building hardware
• Experience with vibration and shock testing
• Experience with finite element modeling
• Experience with NASTRAN (knowledge of DMAP programming a plus)
• Experience with fluid system modeling and structural-fluid coupling pogo problems
• Experience with data processing, analysis and tool development in Python and MATLAB
• Working knowledge of structural analysis and test, including a fundamental understanding of strength, stability and fatigue failure mechanisms

• Position may require extended work hours and weekend work

• To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.  

SpaceX is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with SpaceX is governed on the basis of 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.

Applicants wishing to view a copy of SpaceX’s Affirmative Action Plan for veterans and individuals with disabilities, or applicants requiring reasonable accommodation to the application/interview process should reach out to EEOCompliance@spacex.com.