Founding Lead Mechanical Engineer

Equity: 0.3% – 1% depending on experience

About Us

We're a stealth team building space hardware at the edge of what's currently possible — high-stakes, flight-grade systems where the engineering bar is unforgiving and the upside is enormous. While we can't share full details yet, our founding and early engineering team includes talent from SpaceX, Northrop Grumman, and Impulse Space, the group includes people who've pulled off feats almost no one else on Earth has.

Role Overview

We're seeking a Founding Lead Mechanical Engineer to own structural and mechanical design from first principles — the structures, mechanisms, and interfaces that hold our spacecraft together and let it survive launch and operate in space.

This is a senior technical leadership role. You will not only define and execute the mechanical architecture, but also help build the mechanical engineering team, set technical standards, mentor engineers, and establish the systems, processes, and culture required to develop flight-grade hardware.

This is not a narrow CAD role. You will own mechanical and structural design end to end: vehicle and subsystem architecture, primary and secondary structure, precision mechanisms, analysis, prototyping, environmental test, qualification, and the path to flight production. You will make system-level trades across mass, stiffness, thermal performance, manufacturability, schedule, cost, and mission risk.

The ideal candidate has direct experience with flight hardware design, structural analysis, mechanisms, environmental test, and technical team leadership. We recognize that very few people have all of this. What matters most is that you have exceptional fundamentals, have led real hardware from concept toward flight, have managed or mentored engineers in high-performance technical environments, and can operate independently in ambiguity while making sound engineering tradeoffs. You will have direct ownership over one of the company's core technical challenges.

Key Responsibilities

Own the mechanical and structural architecture of flight-grade hardware, from concept through detailed design, prototyping, qualification, integration, and flight.
Lead the design of primary and secondary structures, precision mechanisms, deployables, interfaces, and electromechanical assemblies optimized for launch loads, vacuum, vibration, thermal cycling, and microgravity.
Lead trade studies across mass, stiffness, payload, repeatability, thermal performance, manufacturability, reliability, and cost.
Own the structural analysis approach: hand calculations, tolerance stack-ups, FEA, margins of safety, and coupled loads inputs at the component, subsystem, and vehicle levels.
Define requirements, loads, interfaces, mass and error budgets, and verification plans at the component, subsystem, and system levels.
Set the standard for CAD, 2D drawings, GD&T, release packages, interface control documents, and technical documentation.
Plan and lead environmental test campaigns, including vibration, shock, thermal vacuum, and static loads, and drive hardware through qualification and acceptance.
Build the mechanical test and integration infrastructure: fixtures, ground support equipment (MGSE), test stands, and lab capability.
Build and test prototypes, analyze failures, and drive root-cause resolution and design iteration.
Establish relationships with machine shops, fabricators, and suppliers, and guide design for manufacturability, assembly, and inspection as hardware moves toward flight production.
Provide technical leadership across mechanical design, structures, mechanisms, and integration and test efforts.
Help hire, manage, mentor, and develop mechanical engineers and technicians as the team grows.
Establish engineering processes: design review standards, drawing and release workflows, configuration management, and verification discipline appropriate for flight-grade hardware.
Work cross-functionally with controls, autonomy, software, avionics, propulsion, thermal, and manufacturing to close interfaces and deliver an integrated flight system.
Work closely with founders and founding engineers to shape the technical roadmap, engineering culture, hiring plan, and long-term mechanical strategy.
Represent the mechanical function in cross-disciplinary design reviews, customer conversations, investor diligence, vendor discussions, and mission planning as needed.

Basic Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related discipline.
8+ years designing, building, analyzing, and testing complex mechanical or electromechanical hardware for spacecraft, launch vehicles, aircraft, robotics, or other high-reliability systems.
Prior experience leading technical workstreams, managing engineers, mentoring junior and mid-level engineers, or building high-performing engineering teams.
Demonstrated ability to own complex mechanical systems from early architecture through detailed design, build, test, and qualification.
Expert proficiency in professional CAD software (NX, CATIA, Creo, SolidWorks, or equivalent).
Strong fundamentals in machine design, structural sizing, mechanism design, and electromechanical integration.
Deep experience with hand calculations, tolerance analysis, and FEA, and the judgment to know which one a problem needs.
Proficiency with GD&T and engineering drawing standards (ASME Y14.5).
Experience taking hardware beyond the bench into environmental testing such as vibration, shock, thermal, or vacuum.
Hands-on experience building, debugging, and testing hardware, with fluency in the shop and the lab.
Ability to work independently with limited direction, identify the right next problem to solve, and drive technical work from ambiguity to tested hardware.
Ability to make practical system-level tradeoffs across performance, schedule, cost, reliability, manufacturability, and mission risk.
Ability to lead through influence in a cross-functional environment spanning controls, software, avionics, propulsion, thermal, and manufacturing.

Highly Valuable Experience

We do not expect every candidate to have all of the following. The strongest candidates will likely have depth in some areas and the ability to quickly learn the others.

Demonstrated flight heritage — mechanical hardware you helped design that has flown and operated in space.
Experience leading mechanical, structures, mechanisms, or integration and test teams.
Experience managing engineers in a startup, aerospace company, defense contractor, launch company, robotics company, or other high-reliability technical environment.
Experience designing mechanisms for space, vacuum, or other harsh environments, including tribology, lubrication, cold welding, and contamination control.
Experience with spacecraft structures, launch vehicle interfaces, separation systems, and coupled loads analysis.
Experience with deployables, hold-down and release mechanisms, actuators, or precision pointing mechanisms.
Experience with structural dynamics, random vibration and shock analysis, and test-correlated FEA models (e.g., Nastran, Abaqus, ANSYS).
Experience with composites, additive manufacturing, or other advanced materials and processes for flight hardware.
Experience integrating electrical components, PCBAs, and harnessing into mechanical assemblies.
Experience with requirements verification, formal hardware qualification, and V&V processes, including standards such as NASA-STD-5001, GSFC-STD-7000 (GEVS), or SMC-S-016.
Familiarity with PLM tools and configuration-managed hardware development.
Experience selecting and managing machine shops, fabricators, and suppliers, and navigating supply chain and material lead times.
Experience transitioning hardware from prototype to flight production.
Experience supporting hardware through launch, on-orbit operations, anomaly response, and post-flight reconstruction.
Experience in early-stage startups, founding teams, or environments where engineers must own broad technical scope.
Experience recruiting, interviewing, closing, and onboarding exceptional technical talent.

Who You Are

You are an exceptional mechanical engineer with experience in demanding, high-reliability hardware environments (e.g., aerospace, robotics) and the ability to reason from first principles.
You are a technical leader who raises the bar for the people around you.
You have managed, mentored, or led engineers before and know how to create clarity, accountability, and momentum in ambiguous environments.
You are adept at taking full ownership of mechanical and structural systems from blank sheet to flight.
You are comfortable working with high ambiguity, rapidly changing requirements, and limited resources.
You can move fluidly between CAD, analysis, the shop floor, the test lab, team leadership, and system-level tradeoffs.
You are not just interested in designing parts; you want to see them built, tested, and working in real environments, under real constraints.
You are excited by flight-grade hardware that has to work the first time.
You have strong opinions loosely held. You can defend a technical position, accept feedback, change course when the system demands it, and make appropriate tradeoffs in support of the mission.
You are a collaborative builder who is low-ego, rigorous, and drives technical excellence.
You want founding-level ownership and are motivated by building a company, not just completing assigned tasks.
You are excited to help build not only the product, but also the engineering organization behind it.

Why Join Us?

Build incredibly ambitious, world-first hardware alongside world-class talent.
Own the structures and mechanisms that carry the entire vehicle from launch through mission.
Build and lead one of the most important technical functions at the company.
Define the product, culture, technical standards, and trajectory of a breakthrough company from the start.
Own significant technical and organizational challenges and create outsized impact.

Benefits

Health Insurance — We cover the full base premium for Blue Shield's Bronze plan. If you'd like more coverage, you can upgrade to the Gold plan and just cover the difference in premium. You're also welcome to add dependents and a spouse to your plan.
Dental & Vision — We cover the base premiums for both, through Guardian. Coverage for dependents and a spouse is available too.
401(k) — We offer a 401(k) with a 4% company match to help you save for the future.
Equity — You'll receive meaningful equity in the company, so you share in what we build together.
PTO & Sick Time — We offer unlimited PTO and sick time, and we trust you to take the time you need to rest and recharge.

ITAR / Citizenship Requirements

To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Founding Lead Mechanical Engineer