Mechanical Engineer III – Solar GSE

Application close date:

Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the requisition is closed.

At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We’re working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight!

This role is part of Advanced Concepts and Enterprise Engineering (ACE), supporting Blue Origin’s mission of millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. The team fosters innovation and drives engineering workflows of the future, shared solutions and standards, simplicity and lower costs, and manufacturable design.

As part of a hardworking team of specialists, technicians, and engineers, you will own the mechanical ground support equipment that makes Blue Origin's next‑generation solar array programs possible. The Solar Center of Excellence is building world‑class capabilities in solar array development—from materials and processes through assembly, test, and qualification—and the MGSE you design will be on the critical path every step of the way.

If you thrive on hands‑on problem solving, take pride in precision craftsmanship, and want your work to directly enable humanity's future in space, this is the team for you.

• Relocation provided
• Travel expected up to 20% of the time
• Interviews will include a technical assessment

• Design, analyze, fabricate, and verify the full suite of mechanical ground support equipment (GSE) for large-format solar array wings, from prototype assembly through engineering build and into qualification test
• Design and develop breakover and repositioning fixtures that allow solar wings to be rotated and handled during ground integration, ensuring load paths do not damage fragile photovoltaic assemblies or their substrates
• Design, build, and validate electro‑mechanical test stands for testing spacecraft mechanism performance using force gauges, temperature sensors, motors, limit switches, and microcontrollers
• Design and conduct experiments to quantify test stand and GSE performance and inform flight hardware testing procedures
• Work with manufacturing and operations engineers to build early‑stage assembly machinery and jigs with design elements that can translate to higher production rates
• Design and release a broad family of wing assembly fixtures including integration stands, alignment fixtures, drill jigs, harness routing guides, connector support brackets, and panel‑level handling aids
• Apply strong Design for Manufacturability (DFM) intuition; write clear manufacturing specifications and work with in‑house machinists and outside vendors to close on fabrication
• Communicate lessons learned from GSE integration to the design team with recommended design changes to improve solar array manufacturability and handling
• Lead design and analysis of gravity off‐load systems, including dynamic load analysis, cable or counterbalance system design, and deployment simulation to accurately compensate for the distributed weight of solar array assemblies throughout the full kinematic range of motion
• Validate off‑load accuracy through a combination of rigid‑body kinematic analysis and instrumented checkout, selecting from constant‑force springs, air bearings, overhead cable systems, or hybrid approaches as the design requires
• Support miscellaneous GSE needs as programs mature:
  Thermal Vacuum (TVAC) test fixture design, transportation and shipping containers for fragile panel assemblies, vibration test interface plates, and deployment restraint fixtures for pre‑launch handling
• Generate component drawings, assembly drawings, and interface control documents with application of GD&T per ASME Y14.5; perform tolerance stackup analysis to verify interface compatibility with flight hardware
• Perform structural analysis sufficient to size load‑bearing members, select appropriate fastener schemes, and verify structural load paths
• Collaborate in a fast‑paced cross‑disciplinary R&D environment with…