Senior Composite Engineer

Senior Composite Engineer — The Exploration Company, Munich.

Here at The Exploration Company, we are building innovative aerospace technologies that advance the future of space transportation. We are seeking an experienced Senior Composite Engineer to support the development, verification, and qualification of primary and secondary composite structures for space applications. The successful candidate will bring strong expertise in composite materials, structural mechanics, and verification methodologies, combined with a solid understanding of the complete lifecycle of structural hardware development. The role requires the ability to define robust technical solutions, assess structural integrity, support manufacturing activities, and contribute to the delivery of flight-quality composite structures. The ideal candidate combines strong engineering fundamentals with a pragmatic mindset and understands how requirements, design, analysis, manufacturing, inspection, testing, and qualification activities contribute to the successful delivery of high-reliability hardware.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the design, development, verification, and qualification of composite structural hardware for space applications.
• Define structural concepts and perform design trade-offs considering reliability, mass, manufacturability, schedule, and cost.
• Develop technical specifications covering structural requirements, materials, manufacturing processes, inspection, and verification activities.
• Support the selection of materials, manufacturing processes, laminate architectures, and structural interfaces.
• Identify and assess critical failure modes throughout the product lifecycle and ensure appropriate mitigation measures are implemented.
• Support supplier management activities, including technical oversight of build-to-print and build-to-specification hardware.
• Review supplier analyses, manufacturing documentation, inspection reports, test reports, and non-conformance dispositions.
• Support anomaly investigations, root cause analyses, and corrective action implementation.
• Interface with systems engineering, manufacturing, AIT, quality, procurement, and program teams.
• Present technical recommendations and structural justifications during project reviews and decision boards.
• Contribute to the development of robust, manufacturable, inspectable, and flightworthy structural solutions.

What We Would Love to See from You

• Master's degree or PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Materials Engineering, or a related discipline.
• Minimum 8 years of experience in structural analysis and mechanical justification of aerospace, space, or other high-performance composite structures.
• Proven experience in the design, development, verification, and qualification of composite structures.
• Strong knowledge of composite materials, manufacturing processes, structural mechanics, and damage tolerance principles.
• Proficiency in finite element modelling and simulation methods for static, buckling, dynamic, thermo-mechanical, and joint analyses.
• Proficiency in finite element analysis (FEA) software (Altair suite and Nastran are preferable).
• Good understanding of composite design allowables, materials and process qualification, structural testing, and analysis-to-test correlation.
• Experience with bolted and bonded joints, load introduction, and interface justification in composite structures.
• Experience with CAD software (Siemens NX) is a plus, Fluent in English.
• Knowledge of German, French or Italian is an asset.

Skills and Behaviors:

• Strong engineering judgement, analytical thinking, and problem-solving capabilities.
• Ability to take ownership of complex technical topics and drive them to closure.
• Proactive and pragmatic mindset, capable of balancing technical excellence, schedule constraints, and business objectives.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively across multidisciplinary teams and external suppliers.
• Ability to identify risk…