{"id":338881,"url":"https://alion.io/job/cowboyspace-structural-analyst","title":"Structural Analyst","company":{"id":8929,"name":"Cowboy Space","domain":"cowboyspace.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/cowboyspace","size_band":"501-1000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":75,"open_postings":5,"ghost_share":0.2,"stale_share":0.4,"repost_share":0.2,"time_to_fill_p50_days":47,"computed_at":"2026-10-27T05:46:45Z"}},"role":"Industrial Engineering","role_family":"Industrial Engineering","seniority":"staff","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Kent, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":140000,"max":195000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":195000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":10,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"MATLAB","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"TPU","optional":false},{"name":"ANSYS","optional":true},{"name":"ASME NQA-1","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-09-02T23:36:44Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-09-02","last_verified_at":"2026-10-28T00:21:10Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":55,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":55},"description":"About Cowboy Space Corp:\nMission\nCowboy Space Corporation is solving the global energy crisis by building the infrastructure for abundant, resilient space-based solar energy. We are tackling one of humanity’s most complex engineering challenges with a world-class team dedicated to delivering a revolutionary power platform. Cowboy Space Corporation is transforming how civilization powers, computes and connects - from orbit to Earth.\nBackground\nCowboy Space Corporation is building the infrastructure to power and connect the orbital economy. Our modular, scalable satellites collect sunlight in Low Earth Orbit to enable multiple integrated applications: transmitting energy via infrared lasers (space-to-earth and space-to-space), powering on-orbit high-performance computing clusters (GPU/TPU), and providing secure, high bandwidth optical data transport.\nCurrent energy and data systems rely on complex logistics and outdated infrastructure. Cowboy Space Corporation overcomes these challenges by enabling direct, on-demand, secure, and scalable energy distribution and data processing from space. This will revolutionize how we operate in orbit and on Earth, supporting the rapidly expanding space industrial base, ISAM (In-Space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing) operations, remote regions, and military bases.\nBaiju Bhatt founded Cowboy Space Corporation in 2024. Inspired by his father’s work with NASA Langley Research Center, Baiju earned his B.S. in Physics and M.S. in Mathematics at Stanford before co-founding Robinhood, now a public company that has helped over 20 million Americans access the financial system. Cowboy Space Corporation has raised ~$365 million from Index Ventures, Interlagos, Construct Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, and others.\nThis is an ambitious mission that demands extraordinary talent. Cowboy Space Corporation ’s team has worked at places like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Stoke Space, Astranis and NASA, and is based in San Carlos, CA. If you're ready to solve complex technical challenges and help build the most important energy company in the world, we want to hear from you.\nAbout the Role\nAs 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.\nResponsibilities\nOwn 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.\n\nDerive 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.\n\nPerform static strength and stability analysis - yield and ultimate margins, buckling, joint and fastener analysis, bearing and bolt-group checks, and local detail stress.\n\nPerform fatigue and durability analysis: spectrum development, cumulative damage, and life prediction for reusable and cycled hardware.\n\nPerform 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.\n\nDevelop 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.\n\nSelect and apply material allowables, accounting for temperature, environment, process, and material form; maintain the allowables the team analyzes to.\n\nDefine test objectives and pass/fail criteria; support proof, static, modal, vibration, and life testing with predictions, and perform data analysis and model correlation.\n\nPerform data reduction for structural test data,and correlate analytical predictions against measurements.\n\nSupport anomaly investigation and root cause analysis, including failure reconstruction, post-test and post-flight inspection, and disposition of nonconformances.\n\nRequired Qualifications\nBachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related field.\n\n5+ years of experience performing structural analysis for flight vehicles, propulsion systems, or other high-performance hardware.\n\nStrong 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 and crack-growth methods.\n\nProficiency with commercial FEA tools for linear and nonlinear structural problems.\n\nAbility to substantiate results with classical hand calculations and to explain and defend method selection, not only tool output.\n\nProficiency with Python or MATLAB for analysis automation, post-processing, and tool development.\n\nMust be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.\n\nPreferred Qualifications\n10+ years of experience performing structural analysis for flight vehicles, propulsion systems, or other high-performance hardware.\n\nDirect experience with launch vehicle, spacecraft, or rocket engine structures.\n\nExperience with formal fracture control programs and standards such as NASA-STD-5019, and with crack-growth tools such as NASGRO or AFGROW.\n\nFamiliarity with NASA-STD-5001 and NASA-STD-5002 structural design and verification requirements, and with factor-of-safety and model uncertainty factor policy.\n\nExperience with structural dynamics: modal survey and correlation, random vibration, shock, and coupled loads analysis.\n\nExperience with composite and bonded structure analysis, including failure criteria and damage tolerance for laminates and COPVs.\n\nExperience analyzing pressure vessels, tanks, or pressurized structures to ASME BPVC or AIAA S-080/S-081.\n\nStrong working knowledge of relevant industry standards and material allowables sources (MMPDS/MIL-HDBK-5, ASME BPVC, AIAA, NASA structural standards).\n\nExperience with nonlinear FEA - contact, large deflection, material nonlinearity - and with thermal-structural or fluid-structure coupled analysis.\n\nExperience developing analysis automation, scripted workflows (ANSYS APDL or Mechanical scripting), or internal analysis tooling used by a team.\n\nExperience supporting structural qualification campaigns, proof and burst testing, or vehicle static and modal testing.\n\nExperience setting or owning analysis standards and review processes for a group of engineers.\n\nCompensation and Benefits\nThe salary range for this position is $140,000 - $195,000 annually. The actual base salary offered will depend on factors such as job-related skills, experience, qualifications, and internal equity.\nEquity in Cowboy Space Corp.\n\nEmployees and their eligible dependents may enroll in medical, dental, and vision insurance\n\n401(k) retirement savings plan\n\nPaid time off\n\n10 paid holidays per calendar year\n\nPaid parental leave\n\nRelocation assistance if applicable\n\nDaily lunch in the office and a fully stocked kitchen with beverages and snacks\n\nITAR Requirements\nExport Control Requirement: To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), applicants must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about ITAR here.\n\nDisclaimer\nThis job description is a summary of the primary duties and responsibilities of the job and position. It is not intended to be a comprehensive or all-inclusive listing of duties and responsibilities. Contents are subject to change at Cowboy Space Corp.’s discretion.\nCowboy Space Corp. is an equal employment opportunity employer. We consider individuals for employment or promotion according to their skills, abilities and experience. Cowboy Space Corp. is committed to complying with all applicable laws prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religious creed, age, national origin, ancestry, physical, mental or developmental disability, sex (which includes pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding and medical conditions relating to pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding), veteran status, military status, marital or registered domestic partnership status, medical condition (including cancer or genetic characteristics), genetic information, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, as well as any other category protected by federal, state or local laws.","description_format":"text","description_chars":9666,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":10,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":true,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity","Parental leave","Relocation assistance","Retirement plans","Vision insurance"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":true,"industries":["Satellite Manufacturing","Space Services","AI Compute & Inference"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-05T17:56:40Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":45,"band":"ok","label":"Likely open","p_open":1,"p_active":0.823,"p_room":0.55,"age_days":54,"expected_fill_days":47,"reasons":["conf:3","velocity","win:tail"],"computed_at":"2026-10-27T05:46:45Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":195000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/cowboyspace-structural-analyst","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/cowboyspace-structural-analyst.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-28T03:57:21Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":5241,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-29T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":8929},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=8929"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fcowboyspace-structural-analyst"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fcowboyspace-structural-analyst"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fcowboyspace-structural-analyst"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/cowboyspace-structural-analyst\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fcowboyspace-structural-analyst"}]}