Flight Mechanisms Engineer — End-to-End Space Hardware

Cowboy Space Corp.; United States; On-site; USD 150,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity in Cowboy Space Corp.

Health insurance

401(k) retirement savings plan

Paid time off

10 paid holidays per calendar year

Paid parental leave

Relocation assistance

In-office lunch

Job summary

Cowboy Space Corp. is seeking a Mechanisms Engineer to own a critical vehicle mechanism subsystem from concept through flight. You will work with propulsion, structures, avionics, GNC, and launch operations to design integrated systems, build hardware, and validate through tests.

You will move quickly, iterate often, and take full ownership of mechanisms that impact mission success, including separation systems, landing gear, aero control surfaces, or electromechanical actuators.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering or related field.
• 5+ years designing mechanisms or mechanical systems for flight vehicles or high‑performance hardware.
• Experience taking hardware from concept through build, integration, and test.
• Strong fundamentals in structural mechanics, kinematics, materials, and manufacturing processes.
• Proficiency with CAD and creating engineering drawings to ASME Y14.5 GD&T standards; proficient with FEA tools.

Responsibilities

• Own your mechanism subsystem from concept through design, analysis, test, and flight.
• Drive structural and kinematic design for minimum mass while meeting strength, stiffness, fatigue, and operational-life requirements across ascent, entry, landing, and reuse environments.
• Balance performance, manufacturability, cost, and schedule in every design decision.
• Perform analysis – hand calculations, FEA, tolerance stack-ups – and validate predictions with test and flight data.
• Define and execute qualification and acceptance test campaigns; author procedures, acceptance criteria, and anomaly dispositions.
• Develop and maintain engineering drawings, models, and release documentation.
• Work directly on the factory floor with manufacturing to iterate quickly and resolve build issues in real time.
• Troubleshoot hardware anomalies, perform root cause analysis, and implement design improvements.

Skills

Structural mechanics

Kinematics

Materials

Manufacturing processes

Vibration/dynamics

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related field

Tools

CAD (NX / SolidWorks / CATIA / Creo)

FEA tools (ANSYS / Nastran / Abaqus)

Job description

Cowboy Space Corp. is seeking a Mechanisms Engineer to own a critical vehicle mechanism subsystem from concept through flight. You will work with propulsion, structures, avionics, GNC, and launch operations to design integrated systems, build hardware, and validate through tests.

You will move quickly, iterate often, and take full ownership of mechanisms that impact mission success, including separation systems, landing gear, aero control surfaces, or electromechanical actuators.