Structural Analyst

Background

Cowboy 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.

Current energy and data systems rely on complex logistics and outdated infrastructure.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.

Baiju 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.

This 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.

About the Role

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.

Responsibilities

• 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.

Required Qualifications

• 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 and crack-growth methods.
• Proficiency with commercial FEA tools for linear and nonlinear structural problems.
• Ability to substantiate results with classical hand calculations and to explain and defend method selection, not only tool output.
• Proficiency with Python or MATLAB for analysis automation, post-processing, and tool development.
• Must 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.

Preferred Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience performing structural analysis for flight vehicles, propulsion systems, or other high-performance hardware.
• Direct experience with launch vehicle, spacecraft, or rocket engine structures.
• Experience with formal fracture control programs and standards such as NASA-STD-5019, and with crack-growth tools such as NASGRO or AFGROW.
• Familiarity with NASA-STD-5001 and NASA-STD-5002 structural design and verification requirements, and with factor-of-safety and model uncertainty factor policy.
• Experience with structural dynamics: modal survey and correlation, random vibration, shock, and coupled loads analysis.
• Experience with composite and bonded structure analysis, including failure criteria and damage tolerance for laminates and COPVs.
• Experience analyzing pressure vessels, tanks, or pressurized structures to ASME BPVC or AIAA S-080/S-081.
• Strong working knowledge of relevant industry standards and material allowables sources (MMPDS/MIL-HDBK-5, ASME BPVC, AIAA, NASA structural standards).
• Experience with nonlinear FEA - contact, large deflection, material nonlinearity - and with thermal-structural or fluid-structure coupled analysis.
• Experience developing analysis automation, scripted workflows (ANSYS APDL or Mechanical scripting), or internal analysis tooling used by a team.
• Experience supporting structural qualification campaigns, proof and burst testing, or vehicle static and modal testing.
• Experience setting or owning analysis standards and review processes for a group of engineers.

Compensation and Benefits

The 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.

• Equity in Cowboy Space Corp.
• Employees and their eligible dependents may enroll in medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) retirement savings plan
• Paid time off
• 10 paid holidays per calendar year
• Paid parental leave
• Relocation assistance if applicable
• Daily lunch in the office and a fully stocked kitchen with beverages and snacks

ITAR Requirements

• Export 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.