Spacecraft Mechanical Engineer — Hands-On & Impactful

Katalyst; Broomfield (CO); On-site; USD 80,000 - 105,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation bonus

Stock options

Comprehensive benefits

Unlimited Paid Time Off

Job summary

Katalyst is building a fleet of robotic space vehicles to enable routine maneuvering, refueling, resupply, and exploration. This Mechanical Engineer role emphasizes designing, analyzing, and delivering flight hardware with a hands-on approach in a multidisciplinary team.

You’ll own mechanical problems from concept through fabrication and testing, collaborating across avionics, GNC, propulsion, software, and systems to ensure mission readiness and robust hardware solutions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree completed or expected before start date in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Robotics, or closely related field.
• Strong grounding in mechanics, statics and dynamics, structures, materials, machine design, heat transfer, manufacturing, or related fundamentals.
• Hands-on mechanical engineering experience through internships, projects, labs, or employment.
• Ability to break down ambiguous mechanical problems, build models, and validate work through analysis, inspection, test, or data.
• Clear written and verbal technical communication explaining designs, analyses, and tests.
• Willingness to learn new spacecraft hardware and cooperate with cross-disciplinary teams.
• Ability to comply with export-control requirements and customer access restrictions.

Responsibilities

• Design, analyze, develop, manufacture, integrate, test, and operate spacecraft mechanical systems, structures, mechanisms, and flight hardware.
• Own mechanial engineering problems from requirements and concept through CAD, analysis, drawing release, fabrication, integration and test.
• Work hands-on with CAD drawings, analysis tools, prototypes, flight hardware, fixtures, test equipment, and manufacturing processes.
• Participate in design reviews, hardware builds, integration activities, test campaigns, anomaly investigations, and mission-readiness activities; communicate performance, risks, and decisions clearly.
• Collaborate across avionics, GNC, propulsion, software, systems, manufacturing, and mission-operations to understand interfaces and system-level impacts.
• Build engineering judgment by comparing calculations with inspection, test and hardware data; iterate toward reliable flight hardware.
• Document requirements, interfaces, calculations, CAD drawings, tolerances, analyses, test results, and procedures for review and reuse.
• Take increasing ownership toward independent part-, assembly-, mechanism-, or subsystem-level responsibility.
• Support mission execution by translating objectives and constraints into mechanical designs, analyses, hardware, integration plans, test approaches, and operational recommendations.

Skills

Mechanical design

Hands-on engineering

Cross-functional collaboration

Clear communication

Export controls

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical/Aerospace/Robotics or related field

Tools

CAD

Finite element analysis

Job description

Katalyst is building a fleet of robotic space vehicles to enable routine maneuvering, refueling, resupply, and exploration. This Mechanical Engineer role emphasizes designing, analyzing, and delivering flight hardware with a hands-on approach in a multidisciplinary team.

You’ll own mechanical problems from concept through fabrication and testing, collaborating across avionics, GNC, propulsion, software, and systems to ensure mission readiness and robust hardware solutions.