Senior Structures Engineer at Cowboy Space Corp. in Washington, DC

Job description

About Cowboy Space Corp: Mission Cowboy Space Corporation is solving the global energy crisis by building the infrastructure for abundant, resilient space-based solar energy. We are tackling one of humanity's most complex engineering challenges with a world-class team dedicated to delivering a revolutionary power platform. Cowboy Space Corporation is transforming how civilization powers, computes and connects - from orbit to Earth. 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 Current energy and data systems rely on complex logistics and outdated infrastructure.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. 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 Sr. Structures Engineer, you will own the design and development of primary tanks and welded structures for our launch vehicle—from requirements and first-order sizing through detailed design, fabrication, qualification, and flight. You will turn pressure, thermal, and vehicle load requirements into lightweight, reliable hardware that we can build, inspect, and test. You will work closely with structural analysis, fluids, propulsion, manufacturing, and test teams to develop structural architectures, define interfaces, and resolve issues as hardware moves from the drawing to the floor. Beyond delivering individual components, you will help establish the design practices and technical judgment the team uses to develop flight structures. You’ll be expected to move quickly, iterate often, spend time with hardware, and take full ownership of the structures you deliver. Responsibilities • Own the full lifecycle of primary tanks and welded structures—from requirements, architecture, and preliminary sizing through drawing release, fabrication, testing, and flight readiness. • Design tank barrels, domes, bulkheads, weld joints, penetrations, attachments, and supporting structures with clear load paths and well-defined interfaces. • Perform first-order sizing and design trades to balance structural performance, mass, manufacturability, inspectability, cost, and schedule. • Work with structural analysts to establish design load cases and verify strength, buckling, fatigue, and damage tolerance under pressure, thermal, and vehicle loads. Incorporate analysis and test findings into the design. • Develop and release CAD models, engineering drawings, and specifications, including material requirements, GD&T, weld details, and inspection requirements. • Partner with manufacturing and welding engineers to develop practical fabrication and as