Mechanical Systems Engineer - Small Satellites and Drones

About the role

This entry-level position offers a chance to help define and implement mechanical architectures for a portfolio of small satellites, drones, payloads and ground terminals. The role turns mission objectives into precise layouts and technical specifications, supports the development of rigorous engineering standards, and works under the mentorship of senior leadership. It covers design reviews, manufacturing and testing phases, with alignment to launch interface constraints.

Key responsibilities

• Develop mechanical configurations and architectures from concept to final design, and maintain mechanical specifications, interface control documents and budgets for mass, volume and alignment tolerances.
• Verify designs meet launch vehicle and deployer interfaces, including CubeSat standards, and take part in SRR, PDR and CDR design reviews.
• Design structures, brackets, enclosures and harness routing in SolidWorks, Autodesk, FreeCAD or Inventor; run or assist with FEA (static, modal, vibration, shock).
• Select materials and fasteners, develop thermal models and engineer passive and active thermal control, working with electronics engineers on heat dissipation.
• Design optomechanical mounts, mechanisms such as deployables and gimbals, and run tolerance and thermo-elastic analyses.
• Produce GD&T drawings, manage fabrication with machine shops, 3D printing and composites, and draft assembly, integration and test procedures.
• Organize environmental testing (vibration, shock, thermal-vacuum, thermal cycling), specify ground support equipment, and help set up clean rooms and labs.
• Set CAD, PDM and configuration control standards, mentor junior engineers and interns, forecast effort, costs and schedules, and contribute to proposals and cross-border work.

Required profile

• Proficiency in defining mechanical architectures for small satellites, drones and payloads, and experience leading mechanical content through design reviews.
• Knowledge of launch vehicle interface standards, including CubeSat specifications.
• Experience mentoring engineering staff and student teams.

Required skills

• Advanced CAD (SolidWorks, Autodesk, FreeCAD or Inventor) and FEA.
• Thermal modeling, thermal control systems, optomechanical mounts and mechanism design.
• Tolerance and thermo-elastic analysis, GD&T drawings and manufacturing drawings.
• AIT procedures, environmental testing, and export-control compliance.