Mechanical Design & Test Engineer II, Automation

Varda Space Industries

Hawthorne (CA)

On-site

USD 120,000 - 153,000

Full time

4 hours ago

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Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare coverage

Relocation support

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Job summary

Varda Space Industries is seeking a Mechanical Design and Test Engineer II, Automation, to build bespoke test infrastructure qualifying spaceflight hardware for orbit. You will design, build, and own sophisticated ground support equipment and test systems, integrating mechanical, electrical, fluid, and instrumentation systems for high cadence, production enabling environments.

You will collaborate with propulsion, avionics, GNC, and manufacturing teams to meet aggressive timelines, deploy PLC

Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or related field.
3+ years in mechanical design or industrial automation.
Experience with SolidWorks, NX CAD, or similar.
Electrical wiring experience for cabinets and harnesses.
Experience with Altium or EPLAN; migrating to EPLAN.
Hands-on experience with high-pressure gas or fluids.
Experience in environmental testing (TVAC, thermal cycling, vibration).
Experience developing propulsion test stands or complex test infrastructure.
Experience with EtherCAT, Modbus, RS-232/485 or similar.
Experience with Beckhoff TwinCAT 3 or eagerness to develop deep expertise.

Responsibilities

Design, build, and maintain test systems and ground support equipment for flight hardware qualification and manufacturing operations including data acquisition systems, thermal control, PLC cabinets, and gas/liquid systems.
Test infrastructure achieves >99% uptime and predictable performance.
Be the Responsible Engineer for test infrastructure including centrifuges, TVACs, prop test stands, gas benches, and water flow stands.
Build cabinets, wire panels, and own systems end-to-end from electrical design through commissioning.
Partner with propulsion, avionics, GNC, and manufacturing teams to deliver test infrastructure on aggressive timelines.
Read, deploy and make minor edits to Varda's PLC framework and EtherCAT tooling.
Champion sustainable engineering practices that enable new engineers to ramp quickly on the tech stack and maintain production systems with thorough documentation.