Principal Mechanical Engineer, Space Mechanisms

Blue Canyon Technologies, RTX's small satellite manufacturer and mission services provider, is solving some of the toughest challenges in space. Our components and bus platforms have completed missions ranging from very-low Earth orbits to lunar and interplanetary journeys at a fraction of the cost of traditional space systems. We support premier defense, commercial and civil organizations including the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, NASA, MIT Lincoln Lab, the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Colorado and more.

Join our innovative and dynamic company as we build, test and operate the small spacecraft of the future.

The Principal Mechanical Engineer, Space Mechanisms will be a technical expert on the BCT Mechanical Engineering team, responsible for the design, analysis, optimization, and characterization of spacecraft hardware. This engineer will support all phases of the product lifecycle as well as internal and external spacecraft teams. The Principal Mechanisms Engineer must be a team-oriented engineer excited to share skills and build knowledge with junior engineers.

Principal Mechanical Engineer, Space Mechanisms

Full Time

$108,000 - $200,000 (Salary to be determined by the education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities of the applicant, internal equity, and alignment with market data.)

Boulder, CO

• 100% company paid health, dental and vision benefits for you and your dependents effective the first of the month following hire date
• Life insurance
• 401k (matching 4% with a minimum 5% contribution)
• Generous PTO (3 weeks of vacation + 3 floating holidays, 2 weeks of sick time, 7 paid holidays throughout the year) and parental leave

• Lead electromechanical design efforts for new spaceflight hardware, from concept to high volume production.
• Devise incremental engineering improvements to legacy solutions. Provide technical support for existing technologies.
• Create product requirements, detailed electromechanical designs, analytical reports, interface drawings, assembly instructions, test plans, and other documentation in collaboration with other departments.
• Support Operations with technically sound information, in a timely manner.
• Quantify and understand competing requirements and trades between disciplines for complex systems and mechanisms (e.g. performance power availability vs. packaging constraints vs. thermal limitations vs. manufacturability).
• Manage electromechanical aspects of multiple complex projects simultaneously, with responsibility for meeting technical, cost, and schedule requirements.
• Responsible for investigation, resolution, and closure for product non-conformances. Support post-delivery issues with internal teams and external customers.
• Lead meetings and technical exchanges with internal teams and external parties; provide technical advice on an ad-hoc basis to management and other departments.
• Delegate tasks as necessary and train individuals to reinforce critical engineering skills.
• Contribute to long-term product roadmaps and business strategies.
• May include personnel management responsibilities and other responsibilities as assigned.

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Mechatronics, or Aerospace Engineering with 13+ years of mechanical work experience. Advanced degrees may be considered in lieu of requisite work experience.
• Expert level experience in CAD. Solid Works preferred.
• Advanced mechanical analysis experience (structural, thermal, etc.). Ansys preferred.
• Extensive knowledge of, and design experience with, motors, encoders, actuators, sensors, controls, bearings, magnets, and other electromechanical sub-systems.
• Experience designing new and continuously improving existing products in a dynamic environment. Direct experience with typical satellite mechanisms such as reaction wheels, control moment gyroscopes, gimbals, SADAs, etc. is highly desired.
• Able to mentor professional engineers and staff engaged in complex engineering activities.
• Intermediate experience programming in at least one common software language (e.g., MATLAB, Python, C/C++, Java, Lab View).
• Related technical experience may be considered in lieu of education.

This job operates in a professional office environment, but in a manufacturing company. This role uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, scanners, filing cabinets and fax machines. BCT anticipates the application window closing approximately 40 days from the date the notice was posted. However, factors such as candidate flow and business necessity may require BCT to shorten or extend the application window.

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to…