Senior Mechanical Engineer: Optical Payloads, Space

Anduril; Costa Mesa (CA); On-site; USD 166,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

Anduril Industries in Costa Mesa, CA is seeking a senior Mechanical Design Engineer to own hardware design from concept to flight. You will create opto‑mechanical payloads, lead tolerance stack‑ups, and define test plans that validate performance in space environments.

Join a Space team building Lattice for Space Missions, applying first‑principles thinking, mentoring junior engineers, and delivering reliable, high‑precision mechanisms for extreme temperatures and radiation.

Qualifications

• BS or higher degree in engineering or hard science.
• Ability to obtain and hold U.S. Top Secret security clearance.
• 5+ years of mechanical design experience.
• Experience with exotic opto-mechanical materials (composites, titanium, beryllium, Invar, Zerodur).
• Experience with tolerance stack-ups, alignments and qualification tests.
• CAD proficiency and ability to create engineering drawings meeting industry standards (GD&T).
• Hands-on fabrication and assembly skills.
• Strong fundamentals in optics, heat transfer, statics, solid mechanics, and materials.
• Ability to work independently and define scope for ambiguous problems.
• Experience with high‑reliability design and vibration/shock resistance.

Responsibilities

• Create opto-mechanical designs of space payloads from small cameras to large telescopes.
• Act as Responsible Engineer: analyze, test plans, vendor visits, test execution, and subsystem interfaces.
• Run finite element models and hand calculations to predict stresses.
• Conduct STOP analyses to evaluate optical performance.
• Perform thermal analyses for on-orbit temperatures and solar loading effects.
• Design alignment features and tolerances for sub-arcsecond pointing and stability.
• Own hardware design from concept to launch with a program-wide view.
• Use first principles for decisions and simplify designs.
• Communicate tradeoffs of architectures relating to mechanical design and packaging.
• Lead subsystem design reviews and provide status updates.
• Build prototypes, analyze failures, and transition to flight hardware.
• Create technical documentation including drawings and specifications.
• Mentor junior engineers.

Skills

Opto-mechanical design

Mechanical design

Tolerance analysis

CAD proficiency

First principles thinking

Documentation

Mentoring

Autonomy

Strong fundamentals in optics

Space payload integration

Education

BS or higher in engineering or hard science

Tools

NX/Teamcenter

Job description

Anduril Industries is a defense technology company with a mission to transform U.S. and allied military capabilities with advanced technology. By bringing the expertise, technology, and business model of the 21st century’s most innovative companies to the defense industry, Anduril is changing how military systems are designed, built and sold. Anduril’s family of systems is powered by Lattice OS, an AI-powered operating system that turns thousands of data streams into a realtime, 3D command and control center. As the world enters an era of strategic competition, Anduril is committed to bringing cutting-edge autonomy, AI, computer vision, sensor fusion, and networking technology to the military in months, not years.

ABOUT THE TEAM

Anduril's Space team is dedicated to expanding our AI-powered capabilities into the final frontier, enhancing Space Domain Awareness, Space Control, and Command and Control for U.S. military and allied partners. We're developing fully integrated hardware and software systems, including Lattice for Space Missions and modular payloads, to address growing threats in space and ensure our Guardians maintain a decisive advantage in this contested war-fighting domain.

WHAT YOU’LL DO?

• Create opto-mechanical designs of space payloads ranging from small cameras to large telescopes
• Act as Responsible Engineer: conduct analyses, visit vendors and test sites, define and execute test plans, and manage subsystem interfaces
• Run finite element models and hand calculations to predict stresses in mechanical and optical components
• Contribute to STOP analyses to evaluate structural and thermal effects on optical performance
• Conduct hand calculations and run higher order thermal analyses to evaluate survival and operational on-orbit temperatures including solar loading effects through apertures and optics
• Design alignment features and conduct tolerance stack-ups enabling sub-arcsecond payload pointing and stability over large temperature ranges
• Own hardware design from concept to launch, intelligently pacing design maturity with a holistic program view
• Use first principles for every decision and continuously simplify designs
• Communicate pros/cons of system architectures with respect to mechanical design and packaging considerations
• Lead subsystem design reviews and provide clear status updates on timelines and technical progress
• Build prototypes, analyze failures, and transition successful designs to flight hardware and low-rate production
• Create excellent technical documentation (presentations, test plans/reports, procedures, drawings, specifications, etc.)
• Mentor junior engineers

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• BS or higher degree in engineering or hard science
• Ability to obtain and hold U.S. Top Secret security clearanceli>
• 5+ years of mechanical design experience and demonstrated track record of success
• Experience with exotic opto-mechanical materials (composites, titanium, beryllium, Invar, Zerodur, etc.)
• Experience with tolerance stack-ups, mechanical alignments, kinematic mounting, and qualification test campaigns
• CAD proficiency and ability to create engineering drawings meeting industry standards (GD&T)
• Hands‑on fabrication and assembly skills with hand tools, mill, lathe, etc.
• Strong fundamentals in optics, heat transfer, statics, solid mechanics, and materials
• Excellent attention to detail, highly motivated, self‑starting, and autonomous
• Organized with ability to define scope and requirements for ambiguous problems
• Experience with high‑reliability design, athermalization, and vibration/shock resistance

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience in NX/Teamcenter
• Hands‑on technical project experience (academic, extracurricular, or personal)
• Parallel industry experience
• Ability to integrate electronic components (PCBAs, motors, sensors) into mechanical designs
• Coding experience in Python, MATLAB, or C++ for analytical models and data acquisition/automation
• Structural or thermal testing experience including sensor selection, data acquisition, and post‑processing (Python preferred)

US Salary Range

$166,000 — $220,000 USD

Benefits

At Anduril, we invest in our people. Our comprehensive, competitive benefits package (available at little to no cost to employees) ensures you’re supported in health, recovery, and whatever comes next. For more information, Explore Our Benefits.

Data Privacy

To view Anduril's candidate data privacy policy, please visit https://anduril.com/applicant-privacy-notice/.

By submitting your application, you consent to Anduril Industries using a third‑party service provider to conduct pre‑employment risk, integrity, and due diligence screening and assessing potential risks as part of your application process. This third‑party service provider provides risk‑intelligence services that may include analysis of sanctions and watchlists, adverse media, public‑record information, and other lawful open‑source or commercial data sources. This third‑party service provider does not act as a consumer reporting agency. Use of this provider helps to ensure compliance with applicable laws and protect technology, intellectual property, and organizational security.