Geotechnical Engineer, Lunar Infrastructure
About The Position
Interlune is a space infrastructure and natural resources company based in Seattle, Washington, building infrastructure for the space economy. The Geotechnical Engineer will join the engineering team and develop lunar surface technology needed to build and sustain off-world infrastructure. The role owns geotechnical evaluation of regolith mechanics, soil-tool interactions, and lunar site preparation so hardware can operate on the Moon. The position is full-time at Interlune’s Research Lab in Houston, Texas. Candidates in Seattle may be considered, though Houston is strongly preferred. Interlune’s technical team spans geological sciences, mechanical engineering, automation, systems engineering, modeling and simulation, and advanced fabrication. The company seeks an agile team member willing to learn and take on multiple roles. Applicants from all industries are welcome, particularly those with complex, multidisciplinary system-development experience; aerospace, oil and gas, construction, or mining experience is valuable but not required.
Requirements
- B.S. in Civil Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, Geological Engineering, or a related technical subject area.
- At least 5 years of experience in geotechnical design, soil mechanics, or terrestrial mining/construction technology.
- Direct experience planning and executing geotechnical laboratory or field testing programs.
- Familiarity with earthmoving, excavation, or foundation design principles and their practical implementation.
- Ability to work effectively with minimal direction, maintain high attention to detail and technical excellence, and demonstrate resourcefulness and success in previous work.
- Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident, or lawfully admitted to the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum, to conform to U.S. Government export regulations.
Nice To Haves
- M.S. or Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, or a related technical subject area.
- Knowledge or prior research in lunar regolith properties, extraterrestrial soil mechanics, or granular physics.
- Proficiency with computational modeling software for granular materials and soil mechanics, such as DEM/EDEM, Plaxis, FLAC, or similar.
- Experience designing hardware or infrastructure for extreme environments or high-vacuum systems.
- Experience in aerospace, oil and gas, construction, or mining; such experience is valuable but not required.
- Experience in complex, multidisciplinary system development.
Responsibilities
- Integrate geotechnical insights with mechanical and systems engineering to deliver functional hardware, bridging design intent and working products.
- Evaluate and characterize lunar regolith mechanics to support design of hardware interacting with regolith and surface infrastructure.
- Apply geotechnical engineering principles to engineered lunar surfaces, anchoring systems, and surface stabilization for low gravity, hard vacuum, and extreme temperatures.
- Conduct engineering analysis using hand calculations, computational modeling such as DEM and FEA, and first-principles reasoning to validate soil-structure interactions and slope stability.
- Lead the design and execution of terrestrial testing programs using lunar regolith simulants, collaborating with planetary scientists on high-fidelity simulants to evaluate excavation forces, compaction behavior, and material flow.
- Lead and participate in component-, subsystem-, and system-level design reviews, communicating technical decisions clearly to a multidisciplinary team.
Benefits
- Medical, dental, and vision coverage.
- Basic and supplemental life insurance.
- Short- and long-term disability coverage.
- Other benefits.
- Flexible PTO policy.
- Paid company holidays.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
