Senior Mechanisms Engineer

About the role

Space is the infrastructure layer for humanity’s next industrial revolution. While reusable rockets have opened the door, true economic transformation requires orbital logistics that is as accessible and reliable as commercial aviation. At Lux Aeterna, we’re building that future by developing the first fully reusable satellite platform built for reliable reentry, recovery, and rapid redeployment, transforming space from a one-way street into a two-way highway for innovation and commerce.

Responsibilities

• Designing and delivering spacecraft mechanisms, deployable systems, actuation systems, and supporting flight hardware
• Managing trade studies, supplier strategy, and ownership of design/build/deploy schedules, milestones, and blockers
• Owning hardware through manufacturing, assembly, integration, test, flight, recovery, inspection, and re-flight
• Creating tooling, fixtures, test equipment, and GSE necessary to validate and operate spacecraft mechanisms
• Defining functional requirements, load paths, tolerances, life-cycle behavior, and failure modes of mechanical systems
• Performing tolerance analysis, mechanism sizing, and dynamic assessments to ensure reliable operation across all mission environments
• Leading build and integration activities and resolving real-time hardware issues
• Defining and executing qualification and acceptance testing for moving flight hardware
• Investigating anomalies and implementing corrective design changes
• Managing interfaces across structures, avionics, thermal, propulsion, and vehicle integration teams
• Iterating hardware based on test and flight data to improve reliability, operability, and turnaround time

Requirements

• BS in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent
• 5+ years developing flight mechanical systems with direct responsibility for hardware performance on satellites, deployment systems, launch vehicles, or hypersonics
• Hands-on experience designing, building, integrating, and troubleshooting mechanical systems
• Demonstrated ownership of hardware through environmental testing and flight operations
• Strong intuition for mechanical system behavior, tolerance stack-up, friction, wear, preload, and failure modes under real operating conditions
• Experience designing mechanisms, deployment systems, latches, release devices, or actuation systems
• Strong GD&T capability (ASME Y14.5)
• Proficiency in 3D CAD (Siemens NX preferred)
• Experience selecting materials, bearings, lubricants, coatings, and manufacturing processes for aerospace hardware
• Able to operate effectively in fast build-test-iterate environments
• Spacecraft mechanisms or deployable flight systems
• Separation systems, release mechanisms, or docking interfaces
• Vacuum-compatible mechanical design and tribology
• Temperature distortion and tolerance-sensitive assemblies
• Pyroshock, vibration, and dynamic deployment environments
• Designing tooling and production fixtures
• Precision assemblies and alignment-sensitive hardware
• Reusable flight systems or refurbishment operations
• SMC-S-016 and/or NASA GEVS environments
• Early-stage hardware startup experience

Qualifications

• BS in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent
• 5+ years developing flight mechanical systems with direct responsibility for hardware performance on satellites, deployment systems, launch vehicles, or hypersonics
• Hands-on experience designing, building, integrating, and troubleshooting mechanical systems
• Demonstrated ownership of hardware through environmental testing and flight operations
• Strong intuition for mechanical system behavior, tolerance stack-up, friction, wear, preload, and failure modes under real operating conditions
• Experience designing mechanisms, deployment systems, latches, release devices, or actuation systems
• Strong GD&T capability (ASME Y14.5)
• Proficiency in 3D CAD (Siemens NX preferred)
• Experience selecting materials, bearings, lubricants, coatings, and manufacturing processes for aerospace hardware
• Able to operate effectively in fast build-test-iterate environments

Skills

• Designing spacecraft mechanisms, deployable systems, actuation systems, and supporting flight hardware
• Managing trade studies, supplier strategy, and ownership of design/build/deploy schedules, milestones, and blockers
• Owning hardware through manufacturing, assembly, integration, test, flight, recovery, inspection, and re-flight
• Creating tooling, fixtures, test equipment, and GSE necessary to validate and operate spacecraft mechanisms
• Defining functional requirements, load paths, tolerances, life-cycle behavior, and failure modes of mechanical systems
• Performing tolerance analysis, mechanism sizing, and dynamic assessments to ensure reliable operation across all mission environments
• Leading build and integration activities and resolving real-time hardware issues
• Defining and executing qualification and acceptance testing for moving flight hardware
• Investigating anomalies and implementing corrective design changes
• Managing interfaces across structures, avionics, thermal, propulsion, and vehicle integration teams
• Iterating hardware based on test and flight data to improve reliability, operability, and turnaround time

Benefits

• Onsite 5 days/week by default, flexible when life requires it

Pay

Negotiable

Schedule

Full-time