Job Description & Details
This is a hands-on structural engineering contract role tucked inside a major international defense and aerospace outfit in El Segundo. You will spend your days keeping tooling fixtures safe and compliant, balancing the gritty realities of machine shop practices with heavy-duty FEA and hand calculations.
What You'll Actually Be Doing
You'll be embedded in the Tooling department, generating and certifying engineering analysis packages that prove your fixtures meet strict safety standards and customer requirements. Your daily grind will involve bouncing between FEMAP/NASTRAN and good old-fashioned hand calcs to run static and dynamic stress analysis on tooling structures. You will also spin up 3D models and production drawings in CATIA or NX, making sure everything aligns with ASME Y14.5 standards, and you'll act as the technical anchor when shop floor problems pop up.
The Core Tech Stack
You need a rock-solid foundation in structural stress analysis, FEA software like FEMAP/NASTRAN, and CAD power tools—specifically CATIA or NX. But the non-negotiable ticket to entry here is an active Professional Engineer license, ideally out of California, paired with a deep understanding of GD&T and ASME standards. Without these, you won't clear the initial screening, as this role demands direct sign-off capability on safety-critical aerospace tooling.
Interview Expectations
Expect the hiring team to hand you a napkin-math stress problem and ask you to walk through your hand calculations before touching software. They want to see if your physical intuition matches your FEA output. You should also be ready for scenario-based questions about resolving a discrepancy between a CAD drawing and actual machine shop fabrication limits, where they are secretly testing your pragmatism under tight manufacturing constraints.
Application Advice
Do not even hit submit unless your active PE license and U.S. citizenship are front and center on your resume. Tailor your professional summary to explicitly highlight your experience with aerospace or defense tooling, FEMAP/NASTRAN, and ASME Y14.5 compliance so you instantly clear the automated ATS filters.