Principal Mechanical Engineer

The Exploration Company; Oberpfaffenhofen; Vor Ort; EUR 120.000 - 190.000; Vollzeit

Zusammenfassung

The Exploration Company in Germany is seeking a Principal Mechanical Engineer to lead the Mechanical Engineering discipline for Nyx Earth, ensuring robust, justified, and flight-ready mechanical systems.

You will manage a team of Mechanical Engineers, drive structural design and verification activities, and coordinate with the Principal CAD Engineer and Vehicle Mechanical Architect to deliver one of Europe’s most ambitious space vehicles.

Qualifikationen

• Degree in aerospace or mechanical engineering.
• 10+ years in spacecraft/aerospace environments.
• Experience leading engineering teams.

Aufgaben

• Lead the Mechanical Engineering team, defining priorities and delivering engineering excellence.
• Drive structural design and verification for Nyx Earth’s systems.
• Coordinate with CAD and Vehicle Mechanical Architect for integrated design.
• Own structural justification activities across the spacecraft.
• Coordinate analyses and testing, ensuring traceability to program goals.
• Ensure robust verification evidence for qualification and certification.
• Lead technical reviews and risk assessments for major milestones.
• Act as hands-on technical leader in decisions, testing, and investigations.

Kenntnisse

Leadership

Structural analysis

Engineering management

Mentoring

Ausbildung

Degree in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering

Tools

Finite Element Analysis

Mechanical testing

Qualification & verification

Jobbeschreibung

Here at The Exploration Company, we are developing, producing, and operating Nyx, a modular and reusable space orbital vehicle that can eventually be refuelled in orbit and that can carry cargo - and potentially humans in the longer run.

We are looking for a Principal Mechanical Engineer, to lead the Mechanical Engineering discipline for Nyx Earth, ensuring that mechanical systems are robust, justified, verified, and ready for flight.

As a Principal you will manage a team of Mechanical Engineers, drive structural design and verification activities, and ensure technical excellence across structural analysis, testing, qualification, and verification. You will coordinate your work with the Principal CAD Engineer and with the Vehicle Mechanical Architect, under the guidance of the Mechanical Design Lead. You will play a key role in enabling the successful development of one of Europe's most ambitious space vehicles.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the Mechanical Engineering team, defining priorities, supporting growth, and ensuring engineering excellence and delivery.
• Support and collaborate to the mechanical design of the spacecraft and its major assemblies, ensuring structurally efficient, robust, manufacturable, and verifiable design solutions throughout the development lifecycle.
• Provide technical leadership on the design of primary and secondary structures, large assemblies, equipment supports, and critical mechanical interfaces, ensuring consistency between design intent, structural justification, and verification strategy.
• Own structural justification activities across the spacecraft, ensuring consistency of assumptions, margins, analyses, and engineering evidence.
• Coordinate structural analyses and mechanical verification activities, with focus on test strategy and execution, from test definition and prediction to result interpretation and model correlation, ensuring results are coherent, traceable, and aligned with programme objectives.
• Ensure verification evidence generated through testing and analysis is robust, review-ready, and suitable for qualification and certification activities towards space agencies.
• Drive technical reviews, risk identification, and engineering maturity assessments to ensure readiness for major programme milestones.
• Act as a hands‑on technical leader, actively contributing to engineering decisions, test campaigns, anomaly investigations, and troubleshooting efforts.

What We Would Love to See from You

Qualifications:

• Degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field.
• More than 10 years experience in spacecraft, launch vehicle, aerospace, defence, or other high-performance engineering environments.
• Strong background in structure design, structural analysis, justification, qualification, and verification.
• Proven experience leading engineering teams and developing technical talent.
• Demonstrated experience supporting complex structural test campaigns, from preparation and prediction through execution and data interpretation.
• Experience with qualification, certification, and engineering review processes.
• Profound knowledge of space industry standards and methodologies.
• Fluent in English. German, French, or Italian are an asset.

Skills and Behaviors:

• Ability to translate complex engineering challenges into clear decisions and actionable plans.
• Strong leadership and mentoring skills within engineering teams.
• Excellent collaboration across multidisciplinary teams and external partners.
• Strong analytical mindset and engineering judgement.
• Clear and effective communication with technical and programme stakeholders.
• Strong problem‑solving skills and attention to detail.
• Strong organisation and prioritisation capabilities.
• Positive and pragmatic attitude to get the job done.
• Demonstrates behaviors consistent with The Exploration Company’s core values of Vision, Mission, Competence, Integrity and Team Spirit.

Why you should join us!

What makes us special here at The Exploration Company and why we think you will enjoy working here is:

• We’re Agile - we make decisions fast whilst keeping our goals and systems in mind
• We’re Open and Collaborative - we are transparent about risks and obstacles, so that we can cooperate to overcome them
• We have a lot of Fun - we refuel our energy knowing we are democratising space. It’s a wonderful and rare opportunity, are YOU up for the challenge?

The Exploration Company is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability status. Relocation assistance is provided for those willing to relocate including visa sponsorship where applicable.