Senior Mechanical Engineer
Loft Orbital
Golden, CO, USA
Posted 6+ months ago
Wanna join the adventure?
Loft’s mission is to be the fastest, simplest, and most reliable path to orbit for any payload. We fly customer payloads onboard regularly scheduled satellites missions, and we handle the entire mission as a service. The Mechanical and Thermal Engineering team is critical to developing the standardized products to enable this mission as well as adapting the standard products to specific customer payloads. We perform clean sheet development as well as supporting production integration and test. As a Mechanical Engineer, you will own complex hardware throughout the lifecycle and work closely with partner teams (flight software, embedded systems, integration & test, and on-orbit operations).
*Research shows that while men apply to jobs where they meet an average of 60% of the criteria, women and other marginalized people tend to only apply when they meet 100% of the qualifications. At Loft, we value respectful debate and people who aren’t afraid to challenge assumptions. We strongly encourage you to apply, even if you don’t ‘check all the boxes.
About the Role:
- Own hardware from conceptual design through test and production for Loft satellites
- Develop design criteria, collaborate on requirements, and drive satellite system optimization
- Rapidly iterate on designs and analysis to inform high level systems trades and steer overall product direction
- Perform detailed structural and thermal analysis to design robust space hardware.
- Support environmental and performance testing on hardware to validate analysis and demonstrate compliance to design criteria
- Demonstrate strong ownership of technical deliverables as well as schedules, supply chain, and operations.
Must Haves:
- Evidence of successful hardware ownership on a spacecraft, subsystem, or payloads
- 3D CAD proficiency (Solidworks preferred)
- End-to-end satellite program experience
- Thermal and Structural design and analysis - both hand calculations and FEM.
- Demonstrated experience in small satellite assembly, integration, and test campaigns with an emphasis on vibration and thermal testing
- Able to work autonomously with little oversight
- Passionate about Loft and the position
- Articulate and able to handle themselves in customer meetings
Nice to Haves:
- Experience with force-limited vibration testing or developing analytical notched profiles
- Experience selecting materials, manufacturing methods, and surface treatments for mechanical components
- Experience designing avionics enclosures and harnessing for PCBAs
- Experience building data analysis tools in Python or Matlab
Some of Our Awesome Benefits:
- 100% company-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance option for employees and dependents
- Flexible Spending (FSA) and Health Savings (HSA) Accounts offered with an employer contribution to the HSA
- 100% employer paid Life, AD&D, Short-Term, and Long-Term Disability insurance
- Flexible Time Off policy for vacation and sick leave, and 12 paid holidays
- 401(k) plan and equity options
- Daily catered lunches and snacks
- International exposure to our team in France
- Fully paid parental leave; 14 weeks for primary caregiver and 10 weeks for secondary caregiver
- Carrot Fertility provides comprehensive, inclusive fertility healthcare and family-forming benefits with financial support
- Off-sites and many social events and celebrations
- Relocation assistance when applicable
Who We Are
Loft Orbital builds “shareable” satellites, providing a fast & simple path to orbit for organizations that require access to space. Powered by our hardware & software products, we operate satellites, fly customer payloads onboard, and handle entire missions from end to end - significantly reducing the lead-time and risk of a traditional space mission.
Our standard interface enables us to fly multiple customer payloads on the same satellite, with capabilities such as earth imagery, weather & climate /science data collection, IoT connectivity, in-orbit demonstrations, and national security missions. Our customers trust us to manage their space infrastructure, so they can focus on what matters most to them: operating their mission and collecting their data.
At Loft, you’ll be given the autonomy and ownership to solve significant challenges, but with a close-knit and supportive team at your back. We believe that diversity and community are the foundation of an open culture. We are committed to hiring the best people regardless of background and make their time at Loft the most fulfilling period of their career.
We value kind, supportive and team-oriented collaborators. It is also crucial for us that you are a problem solver and a great communicator. As our team is international, you will need strong English skills to better collaborate, easily communicate complex ideas and convey important messages.
With 4 satellites on-orbit and a wave of exciting missions launching soon, we are scaling up quickly across our offices in San Francisco, CA | Golden, CO | and Toulouse, France.
As an international company your resume will be reviewed by people across our offices so please attach a copy in English.