Spacecraft Mechanisms Engineer — End-to-End, Hands-On

AstroForge Inc.; Seal Beach (CA); On-site; USD 108,000 - 198,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental and life insurance

Vision and FSA

PTO and holidays

401(k) with company match

Equity on startup

Job summary

AstroForge Inc. in Seal Beach, CA, seeks a Mechanical Engineer to design, analyze, build and test spacecraft mechanisms that must function reliably in space. You will own deployments, actuators, and precision moving assemblies from concept through qualification and flight.

The role requires hands-on experience with mechanisms, CAD (NX), GD&T, and dynamics. You will work onsite in Seal Beach, collaborating with cross‑functional teams on requirements, verification plans, and manufacturing support.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or related field.
• 5–10 years of experience designing mechanical systems and mechanisms for spacecraft or aerospace applications.
• Strong proficiency in CAD software (NX).
• Demonstrated expertise in GD&T and precision mechanical design (required).
• Experience personally building, integrating, and testing mechanism hardware.
• Strong understanding of dynamics and kinematics.
• Ability to work onsite in Seal Beach, CA.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop spacecraft mechanisms, including deployment systems, actuation mechanisms, gimbals, and other precision moving assemblies.
• Own mechanism designs end-to-end, from CAD and analysis through fabrication, integration, and testing.
• Perform detailed mechanical analysis, including stress, fatigue, kinematics, and dynamics, to validate mechanism performance.
• Conduct and support dynamics simulations and mechanism modeling.
• Plan, execute, and analyze mechanism tests; use test results to iterate and improve designs.
• Apply GD&T and tolerance analysis to ensure proper function and reliability of moving interfaces.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to define requirements, interfaces, and verification plans.
• Support material selection and manufacturing process development for mechanism components.
• Document designs, analyses, test results, and lessons learned with full traceability to requirements.

Skills

Mechanical design

Kinematics

Dynamics

GD&T

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering

Tools

Siemens NX

FEA

Python

C++

Job description

AstroForge Inc. in Seal Beach, CA, seeks a Mechanical Engineer to design, analyze, build and test spacecraft mechanisms that must function reliably in space. You will own deployments, actuators, and precision moving assemblies from concept through qualification and flight.

The role requires hands-on experience with mechanisms, CAD (NX), GD&T, and dynamics. You will work onsite in Seal Beach, collaborating with cross‑functional teams on requirements, verification plans, and manufacturing support.