Spacecraft Structures Engineer

Power the future of Space at Star Catcher

Star Catcher is building the first energy grid in space to power the orbital economy.

Today’s spacecraft must generate all of their own power, which caps what they can do and how long they can operate. But what if they could “plug” into a grid, the way buildings do on Earth? Instead of cables and outlets, Star Catcher is building the technology to wirelessly beam energy to spacecraft’s existing solar panels when and where they need it.

Be an early member of a team building an entirely new energy infrastructure at scale to power the next frontier.

Star Catcher Industries, Inc., located in Jacksonville, Florida
, has an opportunity for a
Spacecraft Structures Engineer to support the development of space-to-space power beaming spacecraft and the Star Catcher Network, its orbital power grid. This role will be responsible for design, analysis, and testing of structural systems, components, and ground support equipment used on spacecraft, satellites, and other space-related technologies.

• Design spacecraft structures and ground support equipment (GSE) for concept, preliminary, and detailed design phases using Autodesk Inventor.
• Generate and release engineering drawings for part fabrication and assembly following drawing standards and utilizing GD&T. Create and release engineering change orders to document design changes.
• Perform hand calculations and finite element analysis of owned parts across quasi-static, modal, random vibration, and shock environments, and report margins of safety.
• Build and mesh finite element models in Ansys Mechanical.
• Analyze bolted joints, fasteners, inserts, and bonded interfaces.
• Support analysis of deployable structures.
• Support acceptance and qualification test campaigns, including strain gage and accelerometer placement, instrumentation plan execution, and test data reduction for model correlation.
• Support hands-on assembly and integration of flight and ground test hardware.
• Write technical documentation supporting the analysis, build, test, and integration of hardware to meet program requirements. Document and present technical data providing justification for design choices.
• Serve as liaison with fabrication shops in support of technical matters for procurement efforts.
• Partner with mechanical design, opto-mechanical, thermal, electrical, and manufacturing teams to drive designs and close issues found in analysis and test.

• Bachelor's degree in mechanical, structural, or aerospace engineering, or a related field.
• Minimum three years of experience designing, analyzing, and testing mechanical hardware for complex systems.
• Experience producing CAD models and drawings with GD&T in Autodesk Inventor or equivalent.
• Experience performing structural analysis in Ansys Mechanical or equivalent, including static, modal, and random vibration load cases.
• Working knowledge of aerospace structural criteria, including margin of safety reporting, bolted joint analysis, and factors of safety per NASA-STD-5001.
• Hands-on experience in a shop, lab, or cleanroom environment supporting hardware build, integration, or environmental testing.
• Creative problem-solving skills, with the capability to develop innovative solutions to advanced engineering challenges.
• Willingness to follow company standards and procedures.

• Master's or PhD degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering, or a related field
• Analysis of deployable structures, hinges, latches, and stowed launch load paths.
• Structural-thermal-optical performance (STOP) analysis or thermoelastic distortion of precision optical assemblies.
• Experience with composite, bonded, or lightweight panel construction and the associated fabrication processes.
• Scri…