Mechanical Engineer: Deployable Solar Array Structures

About Cowboy Space Corp

Mission
Cowboy Space Corporation is solving the global energy crisis by building the infrastructure for abundant, resilient space-based solar energy. We are tackling one of humanity’s most complex engineering challenges with a world-class team dedicated to delivering a revolutionary power platform. Cowboy Space Corporation is transforming how civilization powers, computes and connects - from orbit to Earth.

Background
Cowboy Space Corporation is building the infrastructure to power and connect the orbital economy. Our modular, scalable satellites collect sunlight in Low Earth Orbit to enable multiple integrated applications: transmitting energy via infrared lasers (space-to-earth and space-to-space), powering on-orbit high-performance computing clusters (GPU/TPU), and providing secure, high bandwidth optical data transport.
Current energy and data systems rely on complex logistics and outdated infrastructure. Cowboy Space Corporation overcomes these challenges by enabling direct, on-demand, secure, and scalable energy distribution and data processing from space. This will revolutionize how we operate in orbit and on Earth, supporting the rapidly expanding space industrial base, ISAM (In-Space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing) operations, remote regions, and military bases.
Baiju Bhatt founded Cowboy Space Corporation in 2024. Inspired by his father’s work with NASA Langley Research Center, Baiju earned his B.S. in Physics and M.S. in Mathematics at Stanford before co-founding Robinhood, now a public company that has helped over 20 million Americans access the financial system. Cowboy Space Corporation has raised ~$365 million from Index Ventures, Interlagos, Construct Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, and others.
This is an ambitious mission that demands extraordinary talent. Cowboy Space Corporation ’s team has worked at places like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Stoke Space, Astranis and NASA, and is based in San Carlos, CA. If you're ready to solve complex technical challenges and help build the most important energy company in the world, we want to hear from you.

As a Mechanical Engineer – Solar Array Deployable Structures, you will be the responsible engineer for the large deployable structure that supports and positions our solar array. This is a mechanisms-first, hands-on role: you will architect and own the deployment mechanism along with its actuation, latching, and stowage, and the structural design that makes a very large deployed structure stiff, light, and reliable.

You will own this hardware end to end, from concept and analysis through the ground testbeds used to prove it out, qualification, and on-orbit deployment.

Deploying a very large structure reliably is the central challenge of the role. You will work closely with structures, manufacturing, GN&C, power, avionics, propulsion, and software teams to deliver an integrated array. We’re looking for a strong deployable-mechanism background paired with solid structural analysis skills—someone who can move quickly, iterate often, and take full ownership of hardware that directly determines whether our spacecraft gets the power it needs on orbit.

• Own the design of the deployable structure’s mechanism from concept through flight, including actuation, deployment sequencing, latching and locking at full extension, and stowage and launch restraint.

• Design and analyze the deployment kinematics, actuation, synchronization, and end-of-travel latching, and quantify deployment reliability, force/torque margin, and jam resistance.

• Design mechanism details—bearings, guides, drives, dampers, and release devices—with attention to tribology, space-rated lubrication, and…