Senior Structural Engineer, Design and Analysis

About the role

Founded in 2023, Mach Industries is a rapidly growing defense technology company focused on developing next-generation autonomous defense platforms. At the core of our mission is the commitment to delivering scalable, decentralized defense systems that enhance the strategic capabilities of the United States and its allies. With a workforce of approximately 350 employees, we operate with startup agility and ambition. Our vision is to redefine the future of warfare through cutting-edge manufacturing, innovation at speed, and unwavering focus on national security. We are dedicated to solving the next generation of warfare with lethal systems that deter kinetic conflict and protect global security.

Mach is seeking a Senior Structural Engineer, Design and Analysis to support the design, analysis, and testing of composite structures for our next-generation autonomous vehicles. At Mach, we exist to build platforms that maintain an allied American edge. As a key member of our team, you will contribute to the development of lightweight, high-performance composite airframe structures that meet the demands of modern defense technology. The role will involve designing composite components, performing structural analysis, supporting hands-on fabrication and testing, and developing solutions that are optimized not only for performance, but also for scalable, high-volume production.

Responsibilities

• Develop structural concepts and architectures for new UAV and aircraft platforms, with emphasis on efficient load paths, lightweight design, manufacturability, and structural integration.
• Develop, maintain, and mature vehicle-level global finite element models (GFEMs) to support structural sizing, stiffness evaluation, load distribution, and vehicle development.
• Use GFEM results to actively influence structural layout, spar locations, bulkheads, frames, joints, interfaces, skin construction, and overall vehicle architecture.
• Develop appropriate FEM idealizations using shell, beam, rigid, spring, mass, and solid elements while balancing model fidelity, computational efficiency, and engineering usefulness.
• Define modeling assumptions, boundary conditions, structural interfaces, connections, material properties, and load application methods for vehicle-level structural models.
• Perform structural analysis using hand calculations, classical methods, and FEA to evaluate strength, stiffness, stability, buckling, joint behavior, and structural failure modes.
• Develop structural free-body diagrams and load paths to ensure analytical models accurately represent the physical behavior of the vehicle.
• Translate GFEM loads and vehicle-level results into component-level design loads and detailed structural analyses.
• Perform detailed sizing and analysis of metallic, composite, and hybrid structures including skins, spars, frames, bulkheads, fittings, joints, and bonded assemblies.
• Develop laminate architectures and composite structural concepts using classical laminate theory, finite element analysis, and appropriate composite failure criteria.
• Work directly with designers to iterate structural geometry based on analytical results rather than treating design and analysis as separate activities.
• Review CAD designs for structural efficiency, load-path continuity, manufacturability, assembly considerations, and analytical assumptions.
• Establish structural margins and clearly communicate critical load cases, failure modes, sensitivities, and design recommendations to engineering leadership and vehicle teams.
• Support structural test planning, instrumentation definition, test execution, and correlation of analytical models with physical test results.
• Update analytical models using test data, measured stiffness, mass properties, and flight-test results as vehicle maturity increases.
• Support structural design reviews and provide technical justification for structural architecture, sizing methodology, modeling assumptions, and margins.
• Develop and document analysis methods, modeling standards, assumptions, and best practices that can be reused across multiple vehicle programs.
• Mentor junior engineers in structural design, finite element modeling, load-path development, and first-principles structural analysis.

Requirements

• 7+ years of experience in aircraft, spacecraft, UAV, missile, or similarly lightweight structural design and analysis.
• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Civil/Structural Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Strong understanding of structural mechanics, free-body diagrams, load paths, stiffness, strength, stability, and buckling.
• Demonstrated experience developing and using finite element models to influence structural design.
• Experience developing aircraft- or vehicle-level finite element models, structural stick models, GFEMs, or similarly large structural models.
• Proficiency with an industry-standard FEA solver such as MSC Nastran, Siemens NX Nastran, Simcenter Nastran, ANSYS, Abaqus, or equivalent.
• Experience with FEM pre/post-processing tools such as FEMAP, Simcenter 3D, Patran, HyperMesh, HyperX or equivalent.
• Experience developing FEMs using shell, beam, rigid, spring, mass, and solid element formulations.
• Ability to perform structural sizing using both classical hand calculations and finite element methods.
• Experience analyzing metallic and/or composite aerospace structures.
• Experience developing and evaluating bolted, bonded, and mechanically fastened structural joints.
• Ability to work closely with CAD designers and provide actionable geometry and structural recommendations based on analysis.
• Proficiency with NX, CATIA, Creo, SolidWorks, or similar CAD software and the ability to interrogate and understand complex vehicle assemblies.
• Experience defining structural load cases, constraints, interfaces, and appropriate modeling assumptions.
• Comfortable working in a rapid-development environment where analysis maturity increases alongside the physical vehicle design.
• Available to work extended hours and weekends as needed.
• 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.

Qualifications

• Experience developing GFEMs for complete aircraft, UAVs, launch vehicles, missiles, or other integrated aerospace vehicles.
• Experience with MSC Nastran / Simcenter Nastran SOL 101, SOL 103, and SOL 105 or equivalent static, modal, and buckling analysis methods.
• Experience extracting GFEM interface loads and developing detailed submodels or component-level analyses.
• Experience with structural model condensation, rigid-body checks, model verification, mesh convergence, and FEM quality checks.
• Understanding of aircraft loads development and the relationship between aerodynamics, inertia, propulsion, mass properties, and structural loads.
• Familiarity with aeroelasticity, modal analysis, loads and dynamics, or flutter analysis and the role of the structural GFEM in these disciplines.
• Experience correlating finite element models to static structural tests, ground vibration tests, strain-gage data, or flight-test measurements.
• Experience with composite aircraft structures including wings, fuselages, control surfaces, spars, sandwich panels, and bonded assemblies.
• Working knowledge