Engineering Manager, Spacecraft Mechanical & TPS

Kindredventures; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 125,000 - 183,000; Full time

Job summary

Inversion, based in Playa Vista, CA, seeks a Manager of Arc Vehicle Mechanical to lead the team responsible for the mechanical design, analysis, build support, integration, and qualification of Arc vehicle structures, mechanisms, and thermal protection systems. You will own delivery of Arc’s primary structures, associated mechanisms, and TPS.

You will build and mentor a high-performing mechanical engineering team while partnering with Production on manufacturability, tooling, inspection methods,

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or equivalent.
• 8+ years of experience developing aerospace vehicle structures, mechanisms, TPS, or related hardware.
• 2+ years of formal people-management experience.
• Strong background in mechanical design, structural mechanics, load paths, joints, fasteners, materials, and manufacturing processes.
• Experience managing complex aerospace programs through design, environmental qualification, and flight operations.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills to drive alignment across hardware, software, and production.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Arc Vehicle Mechanical team’s daily execution and direction.
• Own the technical delivery of Arc primary vehicle structure, mechanisms, and TPS.
• Partner with Production on manufacturability, tooling, inspection methods, process qualification, production capacity, and long-lead material planning.
• Define mechanical interfaces, installation requirements, load paths, and verification responsibilities.
• Oversee structural analysis and validation, including first-principles calculations, finite-element analysis, joint assessment, tolerance analysis, and test correlation.
• Lead planning and execution of structural, mechanical, and TPS development, qualification, acceptance, and vehicle-level testing.
• Support integrated vehicle builds, environmental testing, shipment, launch preparation, recovery operations, and post-flight hardware assessment as required.
• Drive root-cause investigations and corrective actions when necessary, including build non-conformances, test anomalies, and vehicle integration issues.
• Maintain configuration discipline across CAD, drawings, bills of materials, interface definitions, TPS process documentation, tooling, and verification evidence.
• Build and mentor a high-performing mechanical engineering team.

Skills

Aerospace Eng

Mechanical Eng

Team Leadership

Structural Analysis

Flight Operations

Communication Skills

Education

Bachelor's degree in Aerospace/Mechanical Engineering

Master's degree preferred

Job description

Inversion, based in Playa Vista, CA, seeks a Manager of Arc Vehicle Mechanical to lead the team responsible for the mechanical design, analysis, build support, integration, and qualification of Arc vehicle structures, mechanisms, and thermal protection systems. You will own delivery of Arc’s primary structures, associated mechanisms, and TPS.

You will build and mentor a high-performing mechanical engineering team while partnering with Production on manufacturability, tooling, inspection methods,