Senior Dynamics and Loads Engineer

Senior Dynamics and Loads Engineer
Location: Playa Vista, California (in-person, five days per week)
The return lane isn’t going to build itself. Come build it with us.
Outpost is an orbital logistics company rewriting the rules of global logistics by building reusable Earth-return vehicles that unlock in-space manufacturing, on-orbit warehousing, and 60-minute global delivery through space.
Our CarryAll vehicle family returns payloads ranging from 200 kilograms to 10 metric tons, lands within 10 meters of its target, and can then be refurbished and launched again. One vehicle, many missions: responsive logistics and precision delivery for national security; commercial cargo moved with real cadence; R&D payloads flown, tested, and refined across repeatable cycles; and critical aid delivered where roads and runways can’t reach.
The demand is already here, validated through defense and civil agreements and supported by a growing pipeline of government and commercial customers.
We have the customers, the team, and a clear technical path ahead of us. We’re building the return lane. Come build it with us.
The Role
The Senior Dynamics and Loads Engineer will own the development of loads, structural dynamics, and multibody dynamics analyses for Outpost's CarryAll. Unlike traditional space vehicle roles where the structure simply needs to survive launch, CarryAll has to survive the round trip, and then do it again: launch, separation, heatshield deployment, hypersonic reentry, descent, and landing, followed by refurbishment and reflight. You'll work across vehicle architecture, structures, mechanisms, and test to define the critical dynamic environments that size the vehicle, mature structural and deployment system designs, and validate vehicle performance through analysis and hardware correlation. This is a unique opportunity to shape the dynamic behavior of a new reusable vehicle from early concept through qualification and production.
Responsibilities
Own development of vehicle loads, structural dynamics, and multibody dynamics analyses from early architecture through hardware realization.
Define and mature environmental load cases and dynamic environments across the full mission, including launch, separation, heatshield deployment, reentry, landing, and other transient events.
Partner closely with hardware responsible engineers to translate dynamic analysis results into design requirements, sizing inputs, interface loads, and architecture decisions.
Support development of structural dynamics models, including modal characterization, transient response, and dynamic load prediction for flight hardware.
Drive dynamic trade studies to evaluate mechanism architecture, deployment performance, structural response, and system sensitivity under uncertain and evolving design conditions.
Develop multi-mission load spectra and support fatigue and durability assessments that define refurbishment intervals and reflight limits.
Help define test objectives, instrumentation needs, and correlation plans for mechanism, structural, and dynamic development tests.
Correlate simulation results to test and flight data and refine models, assumptions, and design recommendations based on hardware learnings.
Present analysis progress, technical risks, and recommended paths forward in design reviews and cross-functional program forums.
Operate effectively in a fast-paced, ambiguous development environment, balancing model fidelity, engineering judgment, and schedule needs.
Qualifications
Bachelor's degree or higher in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Engineering Mechanics, or a related field.
5+ years of professional experience in loads, structural dynamics, multibody dynamics, or related analysis for aerospace, defense, or similarly demanding applications.
Strong fundamentals in rigid-body dynamics, structural dynamics, vibration, transient response, and mechanical system behavior.