Mechanical Engineer

Outpost•Los Angeles, CA

5h•Onsite

About The Position

Outpost is building reusable vehicles that bring payloads back from space and deliver them to a precise location within hours, focusing on exologistics at a planetary scale. Core technologies are advancing toward flight readiness, and demand has been validated through multiple defense and civil agreements with a growing commercial pipeline. The company is scaling rapidly, emphasizing execution and scale. The Mechanical Engineer will join the Structures and Mechanism team to design and build the test and qualification process for spacecraft components and vehicles, from concept through execution and data analysis. This is a deep mechanical role involving instrumentation and data acquisition, with strong ownership over hardware qualification. The role spans the full engineering lifecycle, including design, analysis, drawing release, build support, and test, working alongside an integrated team with meaningful ownership from day one.

Requirements

Bachelor’s or higher degree in Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, or a related field
2-5+ years of hands-on experience designing flight hardware structures and mechanisms
Experience in hardware test development
Familiarity with spacecraft or launch vehicle components, or other space/aviation hardware where qualification and reliability are critical
Proficiency in 3D CAD (Siemens NX, CATIA, SolidWorks or similar) and GD&T
Experience taking hardware from design to build to test in an aerospace or space environment
Ability to read and understand mechanical drawings, GD&T
Strong documentation habits and familiarity with following structured standards and guidelines
Familiarity with NASA test and qualification standards (GEVS / NASA-STD-7002, SMC-S-016) and ASME Y14.5 drawing conventions at a functional level

Nice To Haves

Active U.S. Government Security Clearance (not required, but beneficial)
Experience with data acquisition and analysis using at least one of: LabVIEW, Python, MATLAB, or similar tools
Experience with deployable space structures and mechanisms (booms, solar arrays, antennas, or aerobrakes)

Responsibilities

Design, model, and fabricate mechanical components and test fixtures for spacecraft assemblies, including heat shield, payload containment, parachute and paraglider systems, and primary and secondary structure
Select materials, fasteners, and mechanical interfaces that satisfy flight boundary conditions
Produce engineering drawings and documentation for in-house build or vendor fabrication
Iterate designs rapidly based on test outcomes and anomalies, build, test, learn, improve
Set up and execute test, including apply instrumentation (load cells, strain gauges, displacement sensors, thermocouples, pressure transducers), and verifying boundary conditions prior to every test run
Troubleshoot mechanical test anomalies hands-on: trace failures to root cause, propose corrective actions, and retest to closure
Participate in peer reviews and formal milestone reviews (CDR, TRR, etc.)