- Location
- Seattle, WA
- Workplace
- Hybrid, Onsite
- Department
- Engineering
- Seniority
- Senior
- Education
- PhD
- Source
- PCRecruiter
Description
Location: Seattle, WA Area (On-site / Hybrid)
Type: Direct Hire with substantial equity
Depending on your level of experience, this role is leveled at the Senior or Principal tier. You will be the technical authority for coupled thermal–structural analyses, ensuring the integrity of spacecraft hardware particularly those adjacent to propulsion systems from concept through flight.
Primary Responsibilities
· High-Temperature Modeling: Architect and manage coupled thermal–structural FEM for spacecraft hardware subjected to severe transient heating, applying the same rigor used for reactor components or high-flux industrial systems.
· Structural Substantiation: Lead stress, distortion, and fatigue analyses to determine margins of safety.
· Standard Setting: At the Principal level, you will define the analysis standards and methodologies for the entire organization.
· Material Integrity: Assess non-linear material behavior at elevated temperatures using both advanced simulation and first-principles calculations.
· Strategic Collaboration: Partner with propulsion and design leads to optimize hardware for strength, mass, and thermal durability.
· Test & Correlation: Define and lead elevated-temperature test campaigns; correlate analytical predictions with empirical data using deep engineering intuition.
Qualifications
We are looking for candidates with a background in high-consequence thermal-mechanical analysis:
· Experience: 5+ years of dedicated thermal-structural or thermo-mechanical analysis.
· Industry Fit: While aerospace experience is valued, we highly encourage applicants from the nuclear industry or other sectors dealing with extreme heat and structural integrity.
· Technical Mastery: A proven track record of performing coupled stress/deformation analyses on hardware in extreme environments (e.g., thrusters, heat shields, or reactor internals).
· Software Proficiency: Expert-level proficiency in FEMAP/Nastran, Siemens Simcenter 3D, or equivalent simulation suites.
· Engineering Fundamentals: A strong ability to use "back-of-the-envelope" calculations to verify complex FEM results.
· Education: BS, MS, or PhD in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering
