Dynamics Engineer (Starship)

About the role

The Starship Dynamics team is responsible for induced vehicle environments, system dynamics and vehicle dynamics on the Starship and HLS vehicles. The dynamics group is focused on defining forcing functions acting on the vehicle, predicting vehicle and system response, and ensuring hardware is qualified for ground testing and flight.

The group has a wide range of responsibilities that include structural dynamics, fluid system dynamics, random vibration, engine dynamics and multibody dynamics. Dynamics engineers are expected to have a strong intuition of physics first principles, frequency domain analysis, and a broad range of engineering disciplines, in addition to having solid software and analytical skills.

Responsibilities

• Resolve dynamics problems through analysis, test and the use of flight data
• Build finite element and lumped element models of launch vehicle systems
• Execute dynamic testing from start-to-finish (pre-test analysis, sensor selection & installation, testing, data analysis, signal processing and model correlation)
• Own system level analysis and drive hardware modifications or vehicle operations across vehicle engineering teams
• Perform analyses using commercial and in-house codes as well as write new code

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in an engineering discipline
• 1+ years of experience with structural or fluid dynamics via full-time employment, outside the classroom projects, or lab work

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Hands-on experience either analyzing data or building hardware
• Experience with frequency-based and/or time-history vibration analysis
• Experience with vibration, shock, and modal testing (system-identification experience a plus)
• Experience with data processing and analysis in Python and MATLAB
• Experience with solving ordinary differential equations
• Experience with turbomachinery, combustion dynamics, fluid system modeling, or structural-fluid coupling pogo problems
• Working knowledge of structural analysis and test, including a fundamental understanding of strength, stability and fatigue failure mechanisms

Additional Requirements

• Position may require extended work hours and weekend work

Itar Requirements

• To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.