Fracture Control Engineer

Role details

Are you passionate about human space exploration, understanding the origins of the universe, and working with a passionate and diverse team to make a difference? If you are, we need you!

We need your talent, teamwork, and energy to help us achieve great things that inspire people all over the globe. We need you to bring creative ideas and diverse backgrounds to help us envision, shape, and deliver systems that will enable the exploration of space while benefiting people here on Earth. We are excited about what we do, and we need you on our team as we take on exciting challenges for NASA’s pursuits in deep space exploration. As NASA’s largest engineering solutions provider working together with NASA at centers across the United States.

We have an exciting opportunity for a Fracture Control Engineer t o join the team with GeoControl Systems , a teammate company!

The Fracture Control Engineer will serve as a subject-matter expert responsible for defining, implementing, and verifying fracture control processes for spaceflight hardware for Moon Base programs and other NASA programs. This includes fracture mechanics analysis, reviewing and interpretation of fracture control plans, fracture control classification of the parts, coordination of no-destructive evaluation (NDE), and support of design, test, and qualification campaigns across the project.

The Fracture Control Engineer will:

• Review Fracture Control Plans, Fracture Control Summaries, and associated documentation for spaceflight hardware.
• Perform fracture mechanics assessments, including crack growth analysis, fracture toughness interpretation, and criticality classification.
• Review engineering drawings, material specs, and manufacturing plans for fracture control compliance.
• Provide technical direction for fracture testing (fracture toughness, crack propagation, stress corrosion, fatigue testing) for metallic, composite, and non-metallic materials.
• Collaborate with design engineers, stress analysts, materials engineers, quality assurance, NDE personnel, and program safety/mission assurance to ensure fracture-control compliance across the hardware lifecycle.
• Support technical reviews (PDR, CDR, FRB, ERB, hazard reviews) by presenting rationale, analysis results, and classification decisions.
• Evaluate flight hardware for compliance with NASA fracture control requirements, applicable standards and program-specific criteria.
• Support anomaly resolution, provide technical recommendations, and contribute to risk assessments for fracture-related issues.

Other tasks as required.

Requisition Qualifications

This position has been posted at multiple levels. Depending on the candidate's experience, requirements, and business needs, we reserve the right to consider candidates at any level for which this position has been advertised.

• Typically requires a minimum of a bachelor's degree in Engineering and normally possess 5- 10 years of related experience. License and certification may be required.
• Bachelor's degree or higher (e.g., M.S. or Ph.D.) in Engineering in the following areas: Mechanical, Materials Science, Aerospace.
• 5 or more years of professional experience in fracture control, stress/fracture analysis, materials & processes engineering, structural analysis, or related hardware verification.
• Strong experience with fracture mechanics principles, fatigue and damage tolerance assessment.
• Familiarity with composite materials, nonmetals, and their fracture behavior (including delamination, matrix cracking, interlaminar fracture).
• Hands-on experience with fracture testing (toughness, fatigue, crack propagation) and related ASTM or NASA test methods.
• Working knowledge of NDE techniques relevant to fracture-critical hardware.
• Ability to interpret NASA fracture control requirements, program standards, and certification processes.

Strong technical communication skills and ability to present rationale to multidisciplinary and program leadership teams.

Requisition Preferences

• PhD or advanced degree highly preferred.
• Previous experience supporting NASA human spaceflight hardware or fracture control processes.

Experience with analysis tools such as NASGRO, ABAQUS, Nastran/Patran, or comparable fracture/stress analysis software.

Benefits

GCS health and welfare benefits are designed to invest in you, and in the things you care about. Your health. Your well-being. Your security. Your future. Typical benefits offered include flexible work schedules and opportunities to work remotely, educational reimbursement, retirement benefits (401K, Roth), health benefits, tax saving options, disability benefits, life and accident insurance, voluntary benefits, paid time off and paid holidays, and parental and pregnancy leave.