Flight Mechanisms Engineer: Build & Validate Space Hardware

Cowboy Space; San Carlos (CA); On-site; CAD 103,000 - 159,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

401(k) retirement plan

Paid time off

10 paid holidays per calendar year

Paid parental leave

Relocation assistance

Office lunch and snacks

Job summary

Cowboy Space Corp. is seeking a Mechanisms Engineer to own a vehicle mechanism subsystem from concept through flight.

You will work across separation systems, landing gear, aero control surfaces, or electromechanical actuation and collaborate with propulsion, structures, avionics, GNC, and launch ops to validate through tests. This hands-on role emphasizes rapid iteration, real ownership from day one, and close interaction with manufacturing to resolve issues on the shop floor.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering or related field.
• 1+ years designing mechanisms or mechanical systems for flight vehicles or high-performance hardware.
• Experience turning a mechanical design into physical hardware — built, assembled, and tested.
• Strong fundamentals in structural mechanics, kinematics, materials, and manufacturing processes.
• Proficiency with CAD and creating engineering drawings to ASME Y14.5 GD&T standards.
• Working knowledge of FEA tools applied to structural or mechanism problems.
• U.S. citizenship or eligible status is required.

Responsibilities

• Own your mechanism subsystem from concept through design, analysis, test, and flight.
• Drive structural and kinematic design for minimum mass while meeting strength and life requirements.
• Balance performance, manufacturability, cost, and schedule in design decisions.
• Perform hand calculations, FEA, tolerance stack-ups and validate with test/flight data.
• Define and execute qualification and acceptance test campaigns; write procedures and criteria.
• Develop and maintain engineering drawings, models, and release documentation.
• Collaborate on the factory floor with manufacturing to iterate quickly and fix issues.
• Troubleshoot hardware anomalies and implement design improvements.
• Support launch operations, post‑flight inspection, and refurbishment planning.

Skills

Mechanisms design

Flight hardware

CAD tools

FEM analysis

Root cause analysis

Prototype and test

Team collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical/Aerospace Engineering

Tools

NX

SolidWorks

CATIA

Creo

ANSYS/Nastran/Abaqus

Job description

Cowboy Space Corp. is seeking a Mechanisms Engineer to own a vehicle mechanism subsystem from concept through flight.

You will work across separation systems, landing gear, aero control surfaces, or electromechanical actuation and collaborate with propulsion, structures, avionics, GNC, and launch ops to validate through tests. This hands-on role emphasizes rapid iteration, real ownership from day one, and close interaction with manufacturing to resolve issues on the shop floor.