Mechanical and Thermal Systems Engineer

Our Client: A confidential, early-stage U.S. space company developing modular autonomous space stations

Departments: Mechanical & Structural Design, Thermal Engineering

Sponsorship: U.S. Citizen or Legal Permanent Resident required (ITAR-controlled environment)

Our client is an early-stage U.S. space company developing modular autonomous space stations. Headquartered in the Washington, DC metro area, they are building a lean, highly skilled engineering team. This is an opportunity to join a company reimagining how spacecraft and space systems are designed, deployed, and operated — at the frontier of the industry.

Our client's engineering team is highly skilled and mission-driven. This hire will be one of the first engineers on the team, working directly with the CTO and Chief Engineer. At this stage, the role will not come with a narrow task list — the successful candidate will be in charge of the mechanical and thermal design of the spacecraft, spanning structural integrity, mass management, thermal control, and the qualification test campaign that will take missions to launch.

This is a dual-domain engineering role. The candidate will serve as the technical lead for both the Mechanical / Structural design of the core bus and payload pods, and the Thermal Engineering function — from preliminary analyses through TVAC test campaign execution. They will also own the master CAD model of the platform and be the gatekeeper of all mechanical interfaces, with the expectation that they progressively build specialist depth as the program matures.

• Own and maintain the master CAD model of the spacecraft; enforce CAD discipline, assembly hierarchy, and configuration control across all mechanical interfaces
• Define the overall structural concept of the core bus: primary structure, panel design, interface ring, launch vehicle adapter (LVA), and deployment mechanism architecture
• Lead mechanical design of the payload pods: envelope definition, attachment and release mechanisms, and mass and center-of-mass budget contributions
• Develop and maintain the system-level mass budget; perform mass trades and enforce mass allocations across subsystems; track margin against launch vehicle payload capacity
• Perform structural Finite Element Analysis (FEA) for launch loads, quasi-static and dynamic environments, sine sweep, random vibration, and shock; iterate design to meet margins
• Lead design and analysis of all mechanical interfaces: docking interface, robotic arm attachment points, solar panel deployment hinges, and payload integration structures
• Define and manage mechanical ICDs with all subsystems (EPS, RF, GNC, payload customers); support the Chief Engineer as interface control authority for mechanical envelopes
• Select and specify materials, surface finishes, and coatings; ensure compatibility with the space environment (atomic oxygen, UV, thermal cycling, out gassing requirements)

• Design and own the Thermal Control System (TCS) for the core bus and payload pods: passive (MLI, surface coatings, radiators) and active (heaters, thermostats) thermal control elements
• Develop and maintain the thermal model of the spacecraft; perform thermal analyses across all mission phases: LEO sun/eclipse cycling, LEOP, contingency (safe mode), and payload operation scenarios
• Define thermal interfaces with all subsystems: battery and solar array thermal limits (EPS), electronic unit dissipation (OBC/RF), payload customer thermal environments (payload pods)
• Perform worst-case hot and cold analyses; establish temperature predictions and margins for all components; iterate TCS design to meet requirements
• Define and execute the Thermal Vacuum (TVAC) test campaign: test philosophy, thermal cycling profiles, acceptance and qualification test levels, facility selection, and test procedure development
• Use simulation tools to validate thermal and structural performance: ANSYS Thermal Desktop for orbital thermal modelling and TCS sizing; ANSYS Mechanical for structural integrity, launch load analysis, docking load cases, and deployment dynamics

• Defi…