Senior Mechanisms Engineer - Vehicle

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Current energy and data systems rely on complex logistics and outdated infrastructure.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 Senior Mechanisms Engineer, you will own a critical vehicle mechanism subsystem from concept through flight. Depending on your background and team priorities, your assignment will be separation systems, landing gear, aero control surfaces, or electromechanical actuation. This is a hands-on role at the center of vehicle hardware development. You will work closely with propulsion, structures, avionics, GNC, and launch operations to design integrated systems, build hardware, and validate through tests.

You'll be expected to move quickly, iterate often, and take full ownership of mechanisms that directly impact mission success.

Own your mechanism subsystem from concept through design, analysis, test, and flight.

Drive structural and kinematic design for minimum mass while meeting strength, stiffness, fatigue, and operational-life requirements across ascent, entry, landing, and reuse environments.

Balance performance, manufacturability, cost, and schedule in every design decision

Perform analysis — hand calculations, FEA, tolerance stack-ups — and validate predictions with test and flight data.

Define and execute qualification and acceptance test campaigns; author procedures, acceptance criteria, and anomaly dispositions.

Develop and maintain engineering drawings, models, and release documentation.

Work directly on the factory floor with manufacturing to iterate quickly and resolve build issues in real time.

Troubleshoot hardware anomalies, perform root cause analysis, and implement design improvements.

Support launch operations, post-flight inspection, and refurbishment…