Structural Engineer

About the role

Rendezvous Robotics is a small team based in Golden, Colorado, working on electromagnetic self-assembling tiles to enable larger and more powerful spacecraft. We are seeking a Mid to Senior Level Structural Engineer to own flight hardware from cradle to grave, including design, analysis, and test.

Responsibilities

• Own space-grade structures, mechanisms, and electromechanical assemblies from concept through detailed design, qualification, production, and on-orbit operation, including requirements definition, detailed CAD, tolerance stack-ups, and design reviews.
• Lead structural analysis for the program: modal, quasi-static, random vibration, sine, shock, buckling, bolted-joint, and thermo-elastic analysis of primary and secondary structures and integrated assemblies.
• Develop and post-process finite element models to predict design responses and demonstrate positive margins of safety.
• Set the structural load, environment, and test requirements for components, subsystems, and full spacecraft.
• Lead the vibration and structural test campaigns for hardware you have designed and analyzed, including instrumentation choices such as accelerometers and strain gauges, and correlate models to test data to sharpen your predictions.
• Work with manufacturing and supplier partners on materials, joints, and designs that are both producible and testable; produce and check detailed drawings and GD&T.
• Build out our structural design and analysis best practices and mentor junior engineers.

Requirements

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering, or equivalent.
• 5+ years of spacecraft, launch-vehicle, or comparable flight-hardware design and structural analysis experience.
• Demonstrated cradle-to-grave ownership of flight hardware—carrying mechanisms or structural assemblies from concept through design, analysis, qualification, and on-orbit operation.
• Strong command of one or more industry-standard structural FEA packages (Nastran/Femap, ANSYS, Abaqus, etc.), with demonstrated modal, quasi-static, random vibration, buckling, and bolted-joint analysis experience.
• Working knowledge of launch and on-orbit load environments, factors of safety, and margin-of-safety reporting.
• Hands-on structural dynamics testing experience and model-to-test correlation.
• Proficiency with CAD tools for 3D modeling, detailed drawings, and tolerance stack-ups, and with GD&T (ASME Y14.5).
• Strong ability to communicate across engineering disciplines to make program-critical decisions.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience analyzing composite structures (classical lamination theory, joints, material characterization).
• Proficiency with Python or MATLAB for analysis and data processing.
• Familiarity with NASA (e.g., NASA-STD-5020, GEVS) and/or SMC-S-016 verification standards.
• Experience with fatigue, fracture, and damage-tolerance methods (e.g., NASGRO).
• Experience analyzing space-rated avionics, electronics, and PCB/PCBA assemblies.
• Proficiency with Onshape (SolidWorks, NX, or Creo also valued).
• Experience with separation systems, deployables, or precision mechanisms.
• Hands-on R&D background—prototyping, testing, and iterating on novel mechanical concepts.
• Experience in a startup or fast-iteration hardware environment.