Avionics Mechanical Engineer I Hardware

Front Door Defense; Los Angeles, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 77,000 - 116,000; Full time

Job summary

Inversion is seeking an Avionics Mechanical Engineer I in Playa Vista/Los Angeles, CA to lead mechanical packaging and integration of avionics hardware for spaceflight vehicles. You will design, build, and test mechanical hardware packaging for flight computers, power systems, radios, and sensors, working with electrical and production engineers to deliver flight-ready components.

This hands-on, early-career role focuses on CAD design, drawings, analysis, and environmental tests, with close

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering or related field, or equivalent technical experience.
• Experience developing hardware for aerospace/defense or similar demanding applications.

Responsibilities

• Design avionics enclosures and secondary structures for packaging and integration.
• Support assembly and installation of flight computers, power systems, and sensors.
• Produce drawings, CAD models, BOMs, and release documentation.
• Ensure designs meet mass, stiffness, thermal, vibration, and manufacturability requirements.
• Collaborate with electrical and production teams to enable a manufacturable build.

Skills

3D CAD

GD&T

Mechanical drawings

BOMs

Environmental testing

Education

Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering

Equivalent technical experience

Tools

NX

CATIA

SolidWorks

Creo

Job description

Avionics Mechanical Engineer I

Lead mechanical packaging and integration of avionics hardware for spaceflight vehicles

Location: Los Angeles, California

Compensation: $77,000 - 116,000 USD / year

About The Role

Avionics Mechanical Engineer I

Playa Vista, California, United States

Turning Space into a Transportation Layer for Earth

Who We Are:

Inversion builds advanced reentry systems to deliver next-generation capabilities from space. Our mission is to make Earth radically more accessible by turning Low-Earth Orbit into an on-demand logistics domain. We see space not as a destination, but as a platform - one that unlocks unprecedented speed and global reach. Our spacecraft are designed to deliver payloads anywhere on Earth in under an hour, operating through extreme reentry conditions and landing with high precision. These systems open the door to new ways of testing, delivering, and operating at hypersonic speeds. Inherently dual-use, our technology is built to meet urgent national security needs while laying the groundwork for future commercial applications. Backed by leading investors including Y Combinator, Spark Capital, and Lockheed Martin Ventures, and working with partners such as the U.S. Space Force and NASA, Inversion is pushing the boundaries of what's possible in space-based defense and logistics.

What You'll Do

As an Avionics Mechanical Engineer, you will report directly to the Manager of Arc Vehicle Avionics. You will design, build, and test the mechanical hardware that packages, protects, and integrates avionics systems on Inversion vehicles. You will develop secondary structures and electromechanical packaging for flight computers, power systems, radios, navigation sensors, remote I/O, harnessing, and other avionics hardware. Your work will include CAD design, drawings, analysis, manufacturing support, assembly, and environmental test execution. This is a hands-on, early-career engineering role. You will work closely with electrical, avionics, production, and vehicle-integration engineers to turn electronics into flight-ready hardware.

Key Responsibilities

• Design avionics enclosures, mounting brackets, trays, panels, sensor mounts, cable-routing features, and other secondary structures.
• Support packaging and installation of flight computers, power-distribution hardware, batteries, radios, navigation sensors, cameras, remote I/O, and associated harnessing.
• Produce engineering drawings, CAD models, BOMs, assembly instructions, and other release documentation.
• Design for mass, stiffness, thermal performance, vibration, shock, access, manufacturability, serviceability, and vehicle interfaces.
• Work with electrical engineers to define mechanical interfaces for connectors, harness routing, grounding, thermal paths, sensor placement, and board-level packaging.
• Support fabrication, machining, inspection, assembly, and integration of avionics hardware.
• Participate in fit checks, bench tests, vibration tests, thermal tests, and other environmental test activities.
• Coordinate with Production early to ensure designs are manufacturable, inspectable, and support the required build schedule.
• Support vehicle integration by maintaining clean interface definitions and resolving mechanical integration issues.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, a related field, or equivalent technical experience
• Typically 1+ years of internship, academic research, or professional experience developing hardware for aerospace, defense, or similarly demanding applications.
• Proficiency in 3D CAD software such as NX, CATIA, SolidWorks, Creo, or equivalent.
• Familiarity with creating mechanical drawings, assemblies, and bills of materials.
• Working knowledge of GD&T, tolerance stack-up, fasteners, materials, and standard manufacturing processes.
• Familiarity with mechanical design for vibration, shock, thermal environments, and basic structural loading.
• Hands‑on experience building, assembling, testing, or troubleshooting mechanical or electromechanical hardware.
• Demonstrated excellent verbal and written communication skills.

Desired Qualifications

• Experience designing enclosures, electronics packaging, test fixtures, brackets, or secondary structures for aerospace, robotics, automotive, defense, or other hardware products.
• Experience with CNC‑machined parts, sheet metal, additive manufacturing, composite parts, or related manufacturing processes.
• Familiarity with spacecraft, launch vehicle, or UAV flight phases and operations.
• Demonstrated technical execution through collegiate engineering teams (such as Formula SAE, rocket clubs, or robotics design groups).
• Prior internship experience in a fast‑paced aerospace or robotics startup environment.

Our office headquarters is located in Playa Vista, CA. This position requires in office presence.

The California annual base salary for this role is currently $77,000 - $116,000. Pay Grades are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual pay will be determined on a case‑by‑case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: interviews and an assessment of several factors that are unique to each candidate, job‑related skills, relevant education and experience, certifications, abilities of the candidate and internal equity.