Advanced Reentry Technologies
Who We Are:
Inversion is an aerospace and defense company pioneering advanced reentry technology to enable next-generation capabilities from space. By combining high-performance materials, precision aerodynamics, and mission-driven autonomy, Inversion is transforming reentry into an operational capability for an entirely new class of missions.
The company’s highly maneuverable reentry spacecraft, Arc, is designed for rapid global cargo delivery, hypersonic testing, and other national security missions that require precise, controlled flight through the atmosphere. Arc creates an entirely new transportation domain, unlocking unprecedented speed and global reach.
Headquartered in Los Angeles, Inversion designs, manufactures, and integrates its spacecraft under one roof, enabling the company to move rapidly from concept to flight. The company is backed by leading investors including Y Combinator, Spark Capital, and Lockheed Martin Ventures, with customers across the U.S. government and commercial space industry.
Position Overview
As a Senior Dynamics Engineer at Inversion, you will own the development of loads, structural dynamics, and multibody dynamics analyses for one of the most capable reentry vehicles ever developed. You’ll work across vehicle architecture, structures, mechanisms, and test to define critical dynamic environments, mature structural and deployment system designs, and validate key aspects of vehicle performance through analysis and hardware correlation. This is a unique opportunity to shape the dynamic behavior of a new aerospace vehicle from early concept through qualification and production.
Key Responsibilities:
- Own development of vehicle loads, structural dynamics, and multibody dynamics analyses from early architecture through hardware realization.
- Define and mature load cases and dynamic environments, including launch, shock, vibration, separation, deployment, and other transient mechanical events.
- Develop and maintain multibody dynamics models to evaluate separation events and other critical mechanism-driven vehicle behaviors.
- Partner closely with structures and mechanisms 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.
- Help define test objectives, instrumentation needs, and correlation plans for mechanism, structural, and dynamic development tests.
- Correlate simulation results to test 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.
Required Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Engineering Mechanics, a related field, or equivalent technical experience.
- Typically 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.
- Experience developing and applying multibody dynamics models for mechanisms, deployment systems, separation events, or other complex dynamic hardware.
- Experience defining and evaluating mechanical loads and dynamic environments for flight hardware or other high-consequence systems.
- Familiarity with finite element analysis tools such as ANSYS, Abaqus, NASTRAN, FEMAP, or equivalent, with emphasis on modal, transient, and dynamic structural analysis.
- Experience with multibody dynamics tools such as ANSYS Motion, Adams, RecurDyn, Simpack, MATLAB/Simulink, or similar.
- Demonstrated ability to work cross-functionally with design, structures, manufacturing, and test teams to turn analysis into sound hardware decisions.
- Demonstrated excellent verbal and written communication skills.
- Proven ability to work effectively in a fast-paced environment.
- Must have the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government Secret/Top Secret security clearance.
Desired Qualifications:
- Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Engineering Mechanics, a related field, or equivalent experience.
- Experience owning both loads / structural dynamics and multibody dynamics analysis for a vehicle or mechanism development program.
- Experience with deployment mechanisms, separation systems, release events, or payload delivery systems.
- Experience generating design loads and dynamic requirements used to size structures, mechanisms, and interfaces.
- Experience supporting test planning, instrumentation definition, model correlation, and post-test analysis.
- Experience in the design, analysis, or test of qualified flight hardware.
- Experience working on first-of-kind or highly integrated aerospace systems in an ambiguous, fast-moving development environment.
- Experience scripting or automating analysis workflows using Python, MATLAB, or similar tools.
Our office headquarters is located in Playa Vista, CA. This position requires in office presence.
The California annual base salary for this role is currently $137,000 - $193,000. Pay Grades are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual pay will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: interviews and an assessment of several factors that are unique to each candidate, job-related skills, relevant education and experience, certifications, abilities of the candidate and internal equity.