Principal Dynamics Engineer

The Role

As a technical leader on our growing dynamics team, you will own the successful derivation of loads and environments for K2 Space satellites during ground transportation, launch, deployment, and on-orbit operation. You will build software tools and establish simulation workflows to support a variety of analyses in frequency and time domains. Within your first couple of months, you will devise development testing to correlate physics models with measured data. You will also own qualification and acceptance testing of satellite hardware at the component and vehicle level. As we continue to refine our designs and scale for the future, you will set technical direction, mentor junior engineers, and deliver well-derived requirements and engineering insights to make reliable and mass-producible spacecraft.

Responsibilities

Drive the definition and execution of dynamic testing at the component, subsystem, vehicle, and stack level, including test planning and coordination, test analysis, and model correlation

Lead innovation on cross-disciplinary analysis and test methodologies

Own and evolve spacecraft dynamics approaches to optimize for the company’s business

Develop time- and frequency-domain physics models using finite element analysis (e.g., Nastran) and custom-built software (e.g., Python), and set technical direction for shared analysis tooling, including version control and continuous-integration practices for analysis and test-data pipelines

Create software tools to support data processing and simulation frameworks

Collaborate with design engineers, analysts, and external customers to develop payload products

Apply first principles in developing frameworks for both dynamics and non-dynamics analyses

Lead code reviews for simulation and analysis tools

Utilize analysis and test to provide data-driven engineering guidance and decisions

Write high quality technical documentation of tests and simulations

Mentor and provide technical guidance to junior and mid-level dynamics engineers, contributing to the growth of the analysis team

Derive loads, environments, and other dynamics-driven design and test criteria for payload and hardware teams, including vibration, shock, and jitter maximum predicted environments and response-limit derivation (e.g., NASA 7004C), and develop new response-limiting methodologies as needed

Own coupled loads analysis (CLA) for vehicle programs, including bus-and-payload superelement/Craig-Bampton model builds for ascent and on-orbit dynamic environments, through test-level definition

Lead jitter and pointing performance analysis, including Monte Carlo dispersion modeling and dynamic coupling with GNC control loops

Direct vibroacoustic analysis, including patch-method framework development, and lead acoustic testing of the vehicle

Drive definition of vehicle- and stack-level modal test and analysis methodologies, including ground and flight test correlation

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, physics, or mathematics

8+ years of work experience in dynamics from industry or academia

Nice to have

Master’s degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, physics, or mathematics

Strong understanding of low and high frequency dynamics (vibration, acoustics, shock, modal testing)

Deep experience with testing and measurements

Deep experience with finite element analysis software (e.g. FEMAP, Nastran)

Strong experience in software development in Python

Deep knowledge of digital signal processing, statistics, and structural mechanics

Capable of identifying and solving complex problems with little to no supervision or direction

Excellent communication skills of analysis and test insights.

Ability to work in a fast-paced, unstructured start-up environment.

Experience with coupled loads analysis (CLA) and Craig-Bampton/superelement model reduction techniques

Experience with jitter and pointing performance analysis, including Monte Carlo methods for dispersion modeling

Familiarity with rigid-body dynamics and GNC-coupled analysis, including dynamic coupling with controllers and pointing impacts

Experience with multibody dynamics simulation, including rigid-body dynamics and familiarity with Lagrangian formulations; familiarity with LS-DYNA is a plus

Experience with vibroacoustic analysis (e.g., patch, diffuse-field, Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA, e.g., Wave6), or Boundary Element Method (BEM))

Familiarity with HALT/HASS testing and dynamics-driven PCBA-level failure mechanisms (e.g., solder joint fatigue, component lead flexure)

Experience building and maintaining shared analysis tooling, including version control and continuous-integration practices

Compensation and Benefits:

Base salary range for this role is $190,000 - $235,000 + equity in the company

Salary will be based on several factors including, but not limited to: knowledge and skills, education, and experience level

Comprehensive benefits package including paid time off, medical/dental/vision coverage, life insurance, paid parental leave, and many other perks