Mechanical & Dynamics Engineer

Loft Orbital; United Arab Emirates; On-site; AED 350,000 - 520,000; Full time

Job summary

Orbitworks seeks a Mechanical & Dynamics Engineer to serve as the in-house expert for all Orbitworks structural analysis and testing. You will focus on spacecraft-level analysis to ensure stress margins meet launch environment requirements, and identify notch requests via force-limited methods.

You will also handle general mechanical engineering tasks at the satellite level, including design layouts, interface work, and assembly/test oversight, with responsibilities extending to reviewing

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering (Master’s preferred).
• 5+ years in structural analysis in space industry.
• Experience with force-limiting techniques.

Responsibilities

• Perform spacecraft-level structural analysis to ensure fastener and component stress margins meet launch environment requirements.
• Correlate FEA models to vibration test results and prepare concise reports.
• Conduct mechanical trades, layout, interface design, drawings, and assembly/testing support.
• Review mechanical analysis/test results from suppliers and customer payloads.
• Possess fundamentals of satellite thermal design and perform thermal analysis when required.

Skills

Structural analysis

Vibration testing

Thermal analysis

Strong communication

System-level thinking

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical/Aerospace Engineering

Master’s degree preferred

Tools

Femap

Patran

Nastran

ANSYS

SolidWorks

Job description

Wanna join the adventure?

The Mechanical & Dynamics Engineer will be the in-house expert for all Orbitworks structural analysis and testing. This will predominantly be spacecraft-level analysis to ensure fastener and component stress margins of primary structures are compliant with our launch environment. They will also work on identifying any justified notch requests through force-limited methodology. The ability to correlate models to test is essential.

Wanna join the adventure?

The Mechanical & Dynamics Engineer will be the in-house expert for all Orbitworks structural analysis and testing. This will predominantly be spacecraft-level analysis to ensure fastener and component stress margins of primary structures are compliant with our launch environment. They will also work on identifying any justified notch requests through force-limited methodology. The ability to correlate models to test is essential.

They will also act as a more general Mechanical Engineer, predominantly at satellite level. Beyond structural analysis, this role extends to mechanical trade studies, vendor selection, mechanical layouts, interface design, drawings, and assembly & test.

They will also be responsible for reviewing mechanical analysis/test results from suppliers and customer Payloads.

Ideally, the successful candidate will also have a strong understanding of the fundamentals of satellite thermal design. They will be capable, through training if necessary, of performing thermal analysis of our satellites to confirm temperatures remain within acceptable limits.

Must Haves:

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field. Master’s degree preferred
• A minimum of 5 years of experience performing structural analysis in the space industry
• Understanding of force-limiting techniques
• Pragmatic vibration testing experience (provision of pre-test inputs, test oversight, data reduction)
• FEA experience at Spacecraft level. Expert-level knowledge of at least one solver and pre-/post-processor package and cursory knowledge of others (Femap, Patran, Nastran, ANSYS, etc)
• Experience correlating FEA models to vibration test outputs
• Can concisely document analysis and test findings in report format
• Possess strong communication and organizational skills
• System-level thinking and approach to problem-solving

Nice To Haves:

• Ability to perform Craig Bampton (CB) model reduction for launch authorities
• Proficient with CAD tools (Solidworks or similar)
• Experience designing satellites or other space H/W
• Thermal design and/or analysis experience. Use of ESATAN or Systema-Thermica would be an advantage
• Proven experience in optical payloads integration, or other use-cases where alignment and tolerances are design drivers

Orbitworks' mission is to make space simple for organizations that want to deploy physical and virtual missions to space. Building on Loft Orbital's heritage, Orbitworks will be the first commercial firm in the United Arab Emirates to mass-manufacture satellites. Orbitworks aims to manufacture tens of satellites annually and operates out of a 50,000-square-foot facility in Abu Dhabi.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.