Structural Engineer - Building Systems / DFMA
Reframe Systems is on a mission to build resilient, energy‑efficient housing at scale by re‑imagining how homes are designed and built. Our volumetric modular platform and highly automated microfactories will drive down cost, time to delivery, and embodied carbon for single‑ and multifamily housing.
We’re looking for a Structural Engineer to own the structural design of our building platform. This role sits at the intersection of building codes, DFMA, digital modeling, software‑driven structural analysis, and factory reality. You’ll define how our modules take load, move through the factory, get lifted onto foundations, and stand up to decades of use.
You’ll work with architecture, modeling, systems engineering, factory engineering, and external stamping engineers to turn structural engineering from a one‑off project service into a repeatable, scalable product capability.
What you’ll do
Own the structural system for our platform
Define standard structural assemblies for walls, floors, roofs, stairs, and connections that balance strength, stiffness, cost, and manufacturability.
Set design rules, load paths, typical details, and tolerances that can be reused across products and projects.
Bridge design, modeling, and manufacturing
Partner with architects and modelers to translate architectural intent into structurally rational, factory‑buildable systems.
Work with our Onshape Modeling / FeatureScript teams so structural rules are encoded in models, automation, and shop documentation (not just in isolated details).
Lead structural engineering on key projects
Develop internal structural schemes and calculations for priority projects before they go to the Engineer of Record.
Prepare clear, well‑structured packages for external structural engineers and third‑party inspectors, and drive efficient review cycles.
Tighten the loop between design, factory, and field
Diagnose structural root causes behind issues like cracking, misfits, or tolerance clashes in factory and field.
Turn lessons learned from the floor and jobsite into updated details, standards, and rules that prevent recurrence.
Manage and level‑up external partners
Coordinate with EORs and other consultants to align on performance criteria, details, and assumptions.
Push for designs that are safe and code‑compliant without unnecessary over‑design, and quantify trade‑offs in cost and manufacturability.
Contribute to platform‑level system studies
Co‑lead investigations into new structural concepts and their implications for cost, throughput, carbon, and field performance.
Work with systems and MEP engineering to rationalize penetrations, chases, and integrated assemblies.
Prototype automated structural optimization workflows
Work with modeling and software teams to design simple, repeatable optimization studies for key framing systems (for example: minimizing steel tonnage subject to drift limits, or comparing lateral systems across cost and constructability).
Help define how structural models, analysis tools, and modeling pipeline should interact so these studies can eventually be run automatically for both platforms and projects.
Outcomes you will own in your first 90 days
By your 90‑day mark, we’ll look to you to have driven tangible, system‑level progress. Specifically, you will:
Establish a baseline structural “kit of parts”
Document standard wall, floor, and roof assemblies (including spans, sheathing patterns, shear wall strategy, tie‑downs, and typical connections) for a selected product line (e.g., Triple Decker or comparable module set).
Identify where current details are over‑designed, under‑specified, or misaligned with factory reality, and propose targeted updates.
Close at least two recurring structural pain loops between design and factory
Partner with factory, modeling, and design teams to select two recurring issues with structural implications (for example: cracking during lifts, truss dimension mismatches, missing shear/nailing schedules, or wall fit problems).
For each, deliver:
A concise root‑cause write‑up, including structural and process contributors.
A concrete change to details, standards, or tolerances that is implemented in our drawings, models, or Sidekick documentation.
Define a repeatable collaboration model with our structural EOR
For at least one active project, lead the structural engagement with the EOR from internal concept through stamped package.
Produce a lightweight “playbook” for how we want to work with stamping engineers going forward (what we own, what they own, how we avoid unnecessary over‑design, and how we keep decisions synchronized with our models).
Embed structural logic in our digital toolchain
Work with modeling and software partners to get at least one important structural rule (for example: standard nailing schedule behavior, span checks, or connection rules) expressed in a way that can be encoded in our parametric modeling workflows.
Document the next 3–5 candidate rules that should follow, with a clear sense of impact and implementation difficulty.
Create a shared, practical definition of “structural done”
Align with architecture, modeling, and factory engineering on what “structurally done” means at each stage (concept, permit, issued‑for‑modeling, issued‑for‑factory, issued‑for‑field).
Propose a simple checklist or gate for at least one stage that we begin piloting on live work.
What you bring
Experience
7+ years of structural engineering experience on building projects, ideally including multifamily or high‑repeatability housing types.
Experience with modular, offsite, panelized, or other prefabricated systems is a strong plus.
Demonstrated track record of coordinating with architects, MEP engineers, fabricators, and field teams.
Technical depth
Strong grasp of structural behavior in wood/light‑gauge and mixed‑material systems (gravity, lateral, connections, deflection, movement, and creep).
Solid understanding of current building codes and standards, including IBC, ASCE 7, and relevant material-specific codes.Familiarity with Massachusetts and/or California building codes, and comfort working with third‑party modular inspection agencies and local AHJs.
Proficiency with structural analysis and documentation tools; comfortable working from and back into Revit, and able to collaborate effectively with parametric CAD environments (Onshape, SolidWorks, Tekla, etc.).
Experience with or strong interest in API‑driven structural tools (for example SkyCiv, Dlubal RFEM 6, or similar), or a track record of using scripting/automation around more traditional tools (e.g., RISA, ETABS, SAP) to run repeatable studies and optimizations.
Systems mindset
Excited to turn one‑off project details into reusable patterns and rules.
Able to weigh cost, manufacturability, throughput, and embodied carbon alongside pure structural performance.
Collaboration and communication
Clear communicator who can explain structural trade‑offs to architects, modelers, factory leaders, and executives.
Comfortable engaging directly with trades and factory operators to understand what actually happens on the floor and in the field.
Bias to action
Inclined to test ideas quickly on real problems, including prototypes, then codify what works.
Comfortable operating in ambiguity and helping define processes, not just following them.
If you’re excited by the idea of owning the structural backbone of a new kind of housing platform, and you want to see your work move from model to robot to home in weeks, not years, we’d love to talk.