Mechanical & Dynamics Engineer

Overview

The Mechanical & Dynamics Engineer will be the in-house expert for all Orbitworks structural analysis and testing. This will predominantly be spacecraft-level analysis to ensure fastener and component stress margins of primary structures are compliant with our launch environment. They will also work on identifying any justified notch requests through force-limited methodology. The ability to correlate models to test is essential.

They will also act as a more general Mechanical Engineer, predominantly at satellite level. Beyond structural analysis, this role extends to mechanical trade studies, vendor selection, mechanical layouts, interface design, drawings, and assembly & test.

They will also be responsible for reviewing mechanical analysis/test results from suppliers and customer Payloads.

Ideally, the successful candidate will also have a strong understanding of the fundamentals of satellite thermal design. They will be capable, through training if necessary, of performing thermal analysis of our satellites to confirm temperatures remain within acceptable limits.

Orbitworks is building on Loft Orbital s heritage. Orbitworks will be the first commercial firm in the United Arab Emirates to mass-manufacture satellites, with a facility in Abu Dhabi.

• Perform structural analysis and testing for spacecraft-level systems, ensuring compliance with launch environment stress margins.
• Identify justified notch requests through force-limited methodologies and correlate analytical models to test results.
• Contribute as a general Mechanical Engineer at the satellite level, including mechanical layouts, interface design, drawings, and assembly & test.
• Review mechanical analysis/test results from suppliers and customer payloads.

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field. Master’s degree preferred.
• A minimum of 5 years of experience performing structural analysis in the space industry.
• Understanding of force-limiting techniques.
• Pragmatic vibration testing experience (provision of pre-test inputs, test oversight, data reduction).
• FEA experience at spacecraft level. Expert-level knowledge of at least one solver and pre-/post-processor package and cursory knowledge of others (Femap, Patran, Nastran, ANSYS, etc).
• Experience correlating FEA models to vibration test outputs.
• Ability to concisely document analysis and test findings in report format.
• Possess strong communication and organizational skills.
• System-level thinking and approach to problem-solving.
• Ability to perform Craig Bampton (CB) model reduction for launch authorities.
• Proficient with CAD tools (Solidworks or similar).
• Experience designing satellites or other space hardware.
• Thermal design and/or analysis experience. Use of ESATAN or Systema-Thermica would be an advantage.
• Proven experience in optical payloads integration, or other use-cases where alignment and tolerances are design drivers.