Payload Engineer III Verified today

About Firefly Aerospace

Firefly Aerospace is a space and defense technology company on a mission to reliably and repeatedly launch, land, and operate space systems from Earth to the Moon and beyond. Headquartered in north Austin, Texas, Firefly was the first commercial company to launch a satellite to orbit with 24-hour notice and the first to achieve a successful Moon landing.

The Role

The Payload Engineer III is responsible for the design, analysis, development, and qualification of the payload segment and mechanical interfaces to spacecraft for the Alpha Launch Vehicle. This role provides technical leadership across the full lifecycle of payload segment hardware including fairings, attach fittings, and adapters. You will work directly with spacecraft customers to drive mission requirements into functional hardware.

Responsibilities

• Develop and produce payload segment and spacecraft interfaces as the technical owner
• Create and manage hardware definition through CAD, drawings, and documentation
• Perform and guide detailed analysis including structural margins, thermal effects, and tolerance stack-ups
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure seamless hardware integration
• Partner with Manufacturing, Quality, and Supply Chain to ensure hardware is producible, inspectable, and flight-ready
• Support build, integration, and acceptance activities, resolving fit, function, and performance issues
• Lead development, qualification, and acceptance testing of payload hardware to SMC-S-016, AIAA S-114, GEVS, and other industry standards
• Hold mechanical interface control definition for unique spacecraft through documentation
• Support customer fit check and integrations through segment encapsulation
• Provide technical mentorship to junior engineers
• Act as subject matter expert in interface meetings with customers and mission management
• Travel up to 20% as needed

Required Qualifications

• B.S. in Mechanical, Aerospace, or related engineering field
• 6+ years of experience designing, analyzing, and qualifying hardware for aerospace applications or high-reliability systems
• Demonstrated experience with flight-critical structures or mechanisms
• Experience designing and testing for extreme environments including vibration, shock, and vacuum conditions
• Demonstrated foundation in design with carbon fiber and metallic structures
• Proficiency with FEA and classical hand calculation methods to evaluate strength, stiffness, buckling, etc. (Ansys, Femap, etc.)
• Solid understanding of loads and dynamics as they apply to primary structures
• Experience supporting production builds, resolving nonconformances, and improving producibility
• Experience defining qualification and acceptance test programs and interpreting test data
• Proven ability to make sound, defensible engineering decisions under schedule and program constraints

Desired Qualifications

• M.S. or PhD in Mechanical, Aerospace, or related discipline, or 8+ years of experience designing, analyzing, and qualifying mechanical mechanisms for aerospace or high-reliability systems
• Experience with launch vehicle or spacecraft programs from development through qualified flight
• Experience in customer-facing technical roles
• Experience driving hardware through a failed test to successful product
• Familiarity with scripting or programming for analysis, automation, or data reduction
• Hands-on experience working on final stage integration of spacecraft
• Working knowledge of AIAA S-114, NASA 5017B, SMS-S-016, NASA 5020, GEVS

Work Environment

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), you 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.

Firefly offers generous health, dental, and vision plans with low deductibles, parental leave, educational reimbursement, short-term disability, and flexible PTO options.