Director of Primary Structures

Director of Primary Structures

Seattle, WA

Our client are an ambitious Space company developing advanced space systems that will underpin the next generation of orbital infrastructure. Their technologies are designed to enable new ways of generating, transmitting, and utilising resources in space, unlocking capabilities that were previously impractical or impossible.

They are seeking a Head of Primary Structures to own the design, analysis, qualification, and flight performance of a brand new Launch Vehicles primary structure. This is a hands-on technical leadership role responsible for developing lightweight, robust, and manufacturable structures capable of performing in demanding flight environments.

You will work closely with propulsion, manufacturing, avionics, systems, test, and flight operations teams to take structural hardware from early concept through design, manufacturing, testing, and flight. The ideal candidate combines deep structural engineering expertise with a practical, build-first mindset and enjoys solving complex technical challenges in a fast-moving environment.

Responsibilities:

• Own the primary airframe: propellant tanks, interstages, and thrust structure from concept through flight.
• Drive structural design for minimum mass while meeting strength, stiffness, fatigue, and thermal requirements.
• Ensure hardware survives combined ascent, entry, landing, and reuse environments.
• Lead structural analysis (FEA, hand calcs) and validate with test and flight data.
• Define and execute structural test campaigns (component, subscale, full-scale).
• Work directly with manufacturing to iterate quickly and resolve build issues on the floor.
• Identify and close failure modes through rapid design-test-learn cycles.
• Support flight operations, anomaly investigation, and post-flight inspection/refurbishment improvements.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
• Strong background in a Management / Leadership position whilst remaining hands on.
• 8 years of experience designing, analysing, or qualifying primary structures for aerospace vehicles or other high-performance engineering systems.
• Strong understanding of structural mechanics, load paths, structural sizing, fatigue, fracture mechanics, buckling, and material selection.
• Experience taking hardware from concept through design, manufacturing, testing, and qualification.
• Experience leading engineering projects or technical teams.
• Proficiency with CAD software and finite element analysis tools.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience developing structures for launch vehicles, spacecraft, reusable flight systems, or other advanced aerospace platforms.
• Experience with metallic structures, welded assemblies, composite materials, and bonded structures.
• Experience designing cryogenic structures, pressure vessels, or hardware operating in challenging thermal environments.
• Familiarity with structural qualification, environmental testing, and flight hardware certification.
• Experience correlating simulation models with experimental or flight-test data.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced engineering environment focused on rapid design-build-test cycles.

If you are interested then please apply today.