Structural Analyst

Structural Analyst

JOB DESCRIPTION
• COWBOY SPACE CORP.

Cowboy Space Corp. is building the infrastructure to power and connect the orbital economy. Our satellites operate in Low Earth Orbit to collect sunlight and enable a new class of capabilities—from powering on-orbit compute, to transmitting energy via infrared lasers (space-to-earth and space-to-space), to delivering secure, high-bandwidth optical data. By rethinking how energy and data are generated and distributed in space, we’re unlocking entirely new ways to operate both in orbit and on Earth.

Founded in 2024 by Baiju Bhatt (co‑founder of Robinhood), Cowboy Space Corp. is backed by leading investors and built by a team from top aerospace and defense organizations. We’re moving quickly to solve complex technical challenges and build a new category of space infrastructure.

As a Structural Analyst, you will own structural prediction and design verification for the team — the loads, the models, the margins, and the data that back every structural decision we make. You are accountable for the full lifecycle of that prediction: deriving the load cases, analyzing static strength, fatigue life, and damage tolerance, setting the margin policy the team designs to, and then closing the loop by reducing structural test data, correlating it back into the models and empowering your other team members to do the same.

Beyond running analysis, you will define how structural problems get solved here — choosing the right method for each problem and building the tools and templates the team uses to document and verify the work. You will work closely with the head of analysis, fluids, propulsion, GNC teams, and test operations teams, and your analyses will directly enable test and flight confidence.

You’ll be expected to move quickly, iterate often, and take full ownership of the structural predictions the team flies on.

• Own the full lifecycle of structural prediction and data for the team — from load definition and first‑order sizing through correlated, test‑anchored models used to clear hardware for flight.

• Derive and maintain the structural load sets: quasi‑static and dynamic load cases, pressure and thermal loads, and coupled loads across ground handling, ascent, and on‑orbit environments.

• Perform static strength and stability analysis — yield and ultimate margins, buckling, joint and fastener analysis, bearing and bolt‑group checks, and local detail stress.

• Perform fatigue and durability analysis: spectrum development, cumulative damage, and life prediction for reusable and cycled hardware.

• Perform fracture and damage‑tolerance analysis with crack growth where applicable, including initial flaw assumptions, critical flaw sizes, and inspection intervals. Provide guidance to the broader team for best design practices to preclude the necessity for these analyses.

• Develop the tools, scripts, templates, and checklists the team uses to perform, document, and verify structural analyses so results are consistent, reviewable, and repeatable across engineers.

• Select and apply material allowables, accounting for temperature, environment, process, and material form; maintain the allowables the team analyzes to.

• Define test objectives and pass/fail criteria; support proof, static, modal, vibration, and life testing with predictions, and perform data analysis and model correlation.

• Perform data reduction for structural test data,and correlate analytical predictions against measurements.

• Support anomaly investigation and root cause analysis, including failure reconstruction, post‑test and post‑flight inspection, and disposition of nonconformances.

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related field.

• 5+ years of experience performing structural analysis for flight vehicles, propulsion systems, or other high‑performance hardware.

• Strong fundamentals in solid mechanics, structural analysis, stability, and materials behavior, including plasticity, fatigue, and fracture with demonstrated experience determining static strength, stability, and fatigue analysis. Knowledgeable of damage‑tolerance…