Hiring: Payload Engineer III Company: Firefly Aerospace Location: Cedar Park, TX Job Posted Time: 2026-09-16 12:52:00 Target Skills & Keywords : AutoCAD, CAD, Segment About the job Experience: •6+ years of experience designing, analyzing, and qualifying hardware for aerospace applications or high-reliability systems. •8+ years of experience designing, analyzing, and qualifying mechanical mechanisms for aerospace or high-reliability systems. Required Skills: •Individual contribution and teamwork as the technical owner to develop and produce both payload segment and spacecraft interfaces for individual customers to accomplish the goal of delivering launch vehicle customers to orbit. •Create and manage hardware definition through CAD, drawings and documentation. •Perform and/or guide detailed analysis including structural margins, thermal effects, and tolerance stack-ups. •Build confidence and reliability through rigorous documentation. •Collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams to ensure all hardware integrates seamlessly. •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 to ensure a successful product. •Lead development, qualification, and acceptance testing of payload hardware, including component-, subassembly-, and system-level tests to SMC-S016, AIAA S-114, GEVS and other industry standards. Qualifications: •B.S. in Mechanical, Aerospace, or related engineering field. •Demonstrated experience with flight-critical structures or mechanisms. •Demonstrated foundation of design with carbon fiber and metallic structures. •Proficiency with FEA and classical hand calculations methods to evaluate strength, stiffness, buckling, etc. •Solid understanding of loads & dynamics as they apply to primary structures. •Proven ability to make sound, defensible engineering decisions under schedule and program constraints. •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. •Operational familiarity with scripting or programming for analysis, automation, or data reduction. Interested candidates, please apply directly through the job posting on company's career page or try via AI auto apply on this platform. Don't miss this opportunity to join a forward-thinking team!