Senior Flight Mechanisms Engineer — Separation Systems

Cowboy Space; San Carlos (CA); On-site; GBP 111,000 - 133,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Medical/Dental/Vision insurance

401(k) retirement plan

Paid time off

10 paid holidays per year

Parental leave

Relocation assistance

Lunch in office

Job summary

Cowboy Space Corp. in San Carlos, CA, is seeking a Mechanisms Engineer to own a critical vehicle mechanism subsystem from concept through flight, with potential focus on separation systems, landing gear, aero control surfaces, or electromechanical actuation.

You will work closely with propulsion, structures, avionics, GNC, and launch operations to design integrated systems, build hardware, and validate through tests, moving quickly and taking full ownership of mechanism performance and

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related field.
• 5+ years of experience 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 (NX, SolidWorks, CATIA, or Creo) and creating engineering drawings to ASME Y14.5 GD&T standards.
• Proficiency with FEA tools (ANSYS, Nastran, or Abaqus) for mechanism load-path and dynamic problems.
• Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

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.
• Support launch operations, post-flight inspection, and refurbishment planning.

Skills

Mechanisms design

CAD proficiency

FEA proficiency

Structural mechanics

Flight hardware

Education

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

Tools

NX/SolidWorks/CATIA/Creo

ANSYS/Nastran/Abaqus

Job description

Cowboy Space Corp. in San Carlos, CA, is seeking a Mechanisms Engineer to own a critical vehicle mechanism subsystem from concept through flight, with potential focus on separation systems, landing gear, aero control surfaces, or electromechanical actuation.

You will work closely with propulsion, structures, avionics, GNC, and launch operations to design integrated systems, build hardware, and validate through tests, moving quickly and taking full ownership of mechanism performance and