Spacecraft Structures Engineer
Structures - Villeneuve, CH
The position
- Crew
- Structures
- Location
- Villeneuve, CH
- Type of contract
- Full-time
Your role
PAVE Space is building LYOBA, a heavy kick stage moving up to 4-tonne payloads from LEO to high-energy orbits in under 24 hours.
The structures team is in the thick of converging on the vehicle's primary structure design. We need another engineer to take ownership of a substructure: design it, analyse it, get it built, and prove it works.
You will own
Design and sizing of assigned primary or secondary metallic structure assemblies
Structural analysis to support those design decisions: static, dynamic, buckling
Supplier interface: specifications and follow-up through delivery
Verification planning: defining how your structure gets proven, from test spec through acceptance
Interface ownership: managing the boundaries between your structure and adjacent subsystems
What we are looking for
3–5 years designing and analysing primary and secondary metallic structures
Real FEA experience: static, dynamic, modal, buckling
NX and Teamcenter (or equivalent CAD/PLM workflow you can transition from quickly)
You've had your designs manufactured: you understand what a shop floor does to a drawing and you've adapted for it
You've taken at least one structure from design through qualification testing
Fluent English (our working language)
Nice to have: experience with pressure vessels or close working relationship with propulsion subsystems, French, or hands-on manufacturing experience yourself.
You will fit if
You want to own a substructure, not just run someone else's analysis model.
You're comfortable making design decisions when interfaces aren't fully frozen and timelines are short.
You care how your structure gets built and tested, not just how it performs in a simulation.
You'd rather join a small team where your work is visible than a large one where it disappears into a document tree.
Fully on-site in Villeneuve (VD). The vehicle is still being designed: you'll actively contribute to shaping it, not detailing someone else's locked architecture. Some interfaces won't be frozen when you start, and you'll need to move forward anyway.
What makes that worth it: your substructure flies. You'll see the parts you sized and specified go from a supplier's floor to a qualified piece of flight hardware, working alongside a small structures team where nothing you do gets buried. This is the most ambitious space programme in Switzerland, and you'll have direct evidence of your contribution on the vehicle.
Interested? Apply directly, or send this to the structures engineer you know who'd thrive here.