---
title: 'Senior Structures Engineer at Cowboy Space Corp.'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-structures-engineer-cowboy-space-corp-kent-6tmk0ebjj1fr'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-25'
---

# Senior Structures Engineer at Cowboy Space Corp.

- **Company:** Cowboy Space Corp.
- **Location:** Kent, WA
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-10-23
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-25
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/cowboyspace/57250212-1a3b-4ab6-be7b-4ed868a8f0ab

## 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 Current energy and data systems rely on complex logistics and outdated infrastructure.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 assembly approaches, accounting for fit-up, tooling access, weld distortion, tolerances, and inspection access.
- Define hardware verification requirements and support proof, burst, leak, and structural testing, including test configurations, fixtures, instrumentation needs, and acceptance criteria.
- Support fabrication and test operations directly. Investigate anomalies, evaluate nonconformances and proposed repairs with analysis, manufacturing, and quality teams, and drive design improvements.
- Lead design reviews, manage structural interfaces and configuration changes, and mentor engineers in structural design and hardware development.

Required Qualifications

- Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field.
- 7+ years of experience designing and developing structures for flight vehicles, propulsion systems, or other high-performance hardware.
- Demonstrated ownership of metallic tanks, pressure vessels, or thin-walled welded structures from design through manufacturing and test.
- Strong fundamentals in solid mechanics, structural stability, materials behavior, and joint design, including an understanding of pressure loading, buckling, fatigue, and the effects of welding on structural performance.
- Proficiency with mechanical CAD, engineering drawings, GD&T, and tolerance analysis.
- Ability to substantiate design decisions with classical hand calculations and interpret structural analysis results in partnership with analysts.
- Experience working directly with manufacturing, inspection, and test teams to resolve hardware issues.
- 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

- Direct experience designing launch vehicle primary structures or cryogenic propellant tanks.
- Experience with stainless-steel tank construction, sheet and plate forming, and welded assemblies.
- Experience developing weld-joint designs and supporting weld-process qualification, including consideration of material properties, heat-affected zones, distortion, defects, and nondestructive inspection.
- Experience with reusable or repeatedly pressurized hardware, including thermal cycling, fatigue life, inspection access, and repair considerations.
- Experience supporting structural qualification campaigns, pressure testing, and failure investigations.
- Familiarity with relevant aerospace structural standards, pressure-vessel requirements, and material allowables sources such as MMPDS.
- Experience taking hardware from early development into repeatable production and improving designs based on fabrication and test results.

## Compensation and Benefits

The salary range for this position is $172,000 – $203,000 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. Learn more about ITAR [here](https://deccs.pmddtc.state.gov/deccs).

## About Cowboy Space Corp.

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Cowboy Space Corp. is building a vertically integrated orbital infrastructure system—satellites, rockets, and space-based solar power—to run AI compute in Low Earth Orbit.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series B, raised $275 M in May 2026 at a $2 B valuation)
- **Headquarters**: San Carlos, California, United States (with an engineering hub in Seattle, WA)
- **Founded**: 2023 per LinkedIn; 2024 per Built In and other reports (conflicting data)
- **Founders**: Baiju Bhatt (co‑founder and former co‑CEO of Robinhood)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Space‑based AI infrastructure / Defense and Space Manufacturing
- **Target customers**: AI companies, hyperscalers, government/defense agencies that need high‑performance compute without Earth’s power‑grid constraints
- **Mission statement**: “Build the power grid for AI in space” – harnessing abundant solar power in Low Earth Orbit to run on‑orbit GPU data centers

## Products & Services
- **Stampede Constellation**: A planned 20,000‑satellite LEO constellation of orbital data centers that capture solar energy to power NVIDIA GPU racks (~800 GPUs per satellite). Inter‑satellite optical laser links provide high‑speed data transmission.
- **Purpose‑Built Launch Vehicle**: A rocket whose upper stage is itself a 1‑megawatt data center with active thermal management and integrated compute, eliminating redundant structure and mass. First launch targeted before end of 2028.
- **Space‑Based Solar Power**: Satellites in dawn‑dusk sun‑synchronous orbits capture near‑continuous solar energy, beaming power wirelessly via infrared lasers (first demo satellite built with Apex Space).
- **NVIDIA Space‑1 Vera Rubin Modules**: Custom AI compute hardware designed for LEO, integrated into the Stampede satellites.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: $2 B as of the Series B round in May 2026
- **Key Metric**: Total funding ~$335 M (Series B $275 M + Series A $50 M + seed/pre‑seed ~$10 M). Annual revenue is not publicly available.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Index Ventures (lead, Series B), IVP, Blossom Capital, SAIC, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Construct Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, Interlagos, Baiju Bhatt (personal capital). Partnered with NVIDIA, Apex Space, and the U.S. Department of Defense (OECIF funding).
- **Growth Signals**: 
  - Headcount grew ~205 % year‑over‑year (42 employees per LinkedIn mid‑2026; Built In reports 61 total employees – conflicting data)
  - Filed FCC application in May 2026 for a 20,000‑satellite orbital data center system
  - Opened a Seattle engineering hub in March 2026
  - Won DoD funding for power beam proof‑of‑concept; received Commercial Spaceflight Federation membership

## Competitive Advantages
- **Full‑stack integration**: The rocket’s upper stage is the satellite itself, eliminating redundant mass and dedicated launch‑satellite interfaces, allowing more compute per kilogram.
- **Space‑based solar power**: Satellites in sun‑synchronous orbits harvest near‑continuous solar energy, bypassing terrestrial grid bottlenecks that take 5–7 years for new data center connections.
- **Vertically owned manufacturing and launch**: Controls the entire value chain – from launch vehicle to orbital data center and optical data transmission – enabling rapid iteration and scale.

## Strategic Focus
- Scale the Stampede constellation to thousands of satellites, each hosting hundreds of GPUs, to deliver orbital compute at a scale impossible on Earth.
- Launch the first satellite (power beaming demo with Apex Space) and complete the first integrated vehicle launch before 2028.
- Continue to partner with defense and government agencies (e.g., DoD) while also serving commercial AI customers.
- Rebranded from “Aetherflux” in May 2026 to unify the company’s identity around the “Cowboy” mission.

## Why Work Here
- **Team pedigree**: Engineers from SpaceX, Blue Origin, NASA/JPL, Astranis, Anduril, Amazon Kuiper, NVIDIA, and Robinhood. Strong aerospace and AI/ML culture.
- **Work model**: Hybrid – employees engage in a combination of remote and on‑site work; many roles are listed as “in‑office” in San Carlos or Seattle.
- **Culture & perks**: A fast‑paced startup tackling one of the hardest infrastructure problems (space‑based AI compute). Roles span electrical engineering, optical comms, GNC, firmware, supply chain, and talent acquisition. Emphasis on “building the future” and strengthening U.S. energy independence and national security.
- **Growth opportunity**: Joining a company that has just raised a $275 M Series B at a $2 B valuation, with aggressive hiring across technical and leadership positions.

## Sources
1. [cowboyspace.com](https://www.cowboyspace.com/)
2. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/cowboyspace)
3. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/cowboy-space-corporation)
4. [siliconvalleyinvestclub.com](https://siliconvalleyinvestclub.com/cowboy-space/)

## Other roles at Cowboy Space Corp.

- [Head of Analysis](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-analysis-cowboy-space-corp-kent-a604x19q86he) — Kent, WA
- [Head of Primary Structures](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-primary-structures-cowboy-space-corp-kent-67hxcmffey3z) — Kent, WA
- [Senior Flight Dynamics Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-flight-dynamics-engineer-cowboy-space-corp-kent-7jdvdb20czn2) — Kent, WA
- [Optical Engineer, Test & Metrology](https://feeny.ai/job/optical-engineer-test-metrology-cowboy-space-corp-san-carlos-ap2dcckh5m9j) — San Carlos, CA
- [Ground Station Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/ground-station-software-engineer-cowboy-space-corp-san-carlos-ca-or-kent-fyvnyrp1d9fj) — San Carlos CA OR Kent, WA
- [Stage 1 Lead Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/stage-1-lead-engineer-cowboy-space-corp-kent-8ys2fh6p6fx8) — Kent, WA
- [Navigation Sensor Hardware Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/navigation-sensor-hardware-engineer-cowboy-space-corp-kent-rqhnfemrcadz) — Kent, WA
- [Senior RF Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-rf-engineer-cowboy-space-corp-san-carlos-p08ftyc3ct71) — San Carlos, CA
- [Senior Sourcing and Procurement Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-sourcing-and-procurement-manager-cowboy-space-corp-san-carlos-1x9yyjky4tap) — San Carlos, CA
- [Head of Marketing and Communications](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-marketing-and-communications-cowboy-space-corp-san-carlos-ca-or-kent-1ha11yk5wh3z) — San Carlos CA OR Kent, WA