Mechanical Engineer

Aurelius Systems•San Francisco, CA

2d•Onsite

About The Position

Aurelius Systems is a VC-backed defense tech startup building autonomous, edge-deployed directed energy systems for counter-UAS. We build laser weapons to shoot down drones. We're a small team of engineers, former US military operators, and subject matter experts scaling America's directed energy dominance. The first cost-effective, reliable and robust laser weapon system. Our namesake isn't an accident. Marcus Aurelius wrote about doing the work in front of you, every day, without excuses. Henry Ford didn't wait for permission to reinvent manufacturing. That's how we operate — small team, unreasonable output, no hiding behind the unachievable. In addition to our San Francisco lab, we’ve opened a Detroit manufacturing hub and we field test weekly on our own 400-acre private range. We need a Mechanical Engineer focused on design ruggedization across Archimedes — survivability across shock, vibration, moisture, and environmental extremes for a fiber laser system in a deployable, field-rugged package. MIL-spec is one of the harder problems in directed energy and a make-or-break domain for the platform. You'll work hands on from architecture through bench validation and field correlation.

Requirements

3 to 10+ years in mechanical engineering on ruggedized or field-deployable systems
Strong FEA experience with ANSYS, Nastran, Abaqus, or equivalent
Hands on experience designing to MIL-STD-810 or equivalent shock and vibration standards
Track record building and instrumenting structural test rigs and correlating model to bench
Experience with sealing, EMI/EMC gaskets, conformal coating, and environmental protection design
Experience designing enclosures and structures for field-deployable or military conditions
BS or MS in Mechanical, Aerospace, or related engineering field.
Extreme bias for action. You'd rather build and instrument the rig tomorrow than model it for a month
You characterize your own systems before the field does
Comfortable with ambiguity and fast iteration in a startup environment
Clear communicator across mechanical, electrical, optical, and software teams
Self directed. You identify what needs to happen next and do it without being told
This role requires access to export-controlled information or items that require U.S. Person status. As defined by U.S. law, individuals who are any one of the following are considered to be a U.S. Person: (1) U.S. citizens, (2) legal permanent residents (a.k.a. green card holders), and (3) certain protected classes of asylees and refugees, as defined in 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3).

Nice To Haves

Direct laser system or directed energy hardware experience
MIL-STD-461 EMI/EMC design awareness for mechanical hardware integration
Experience with optical bench or precision instrument ruggedization
Field-deployable or vehicle-mounted system experience
PhD welcome but not required.

Responsibilities

Structural and mechanical design for survivability across MIL-STD shock, vibration, humidity, dust, and austere environments
Ruggedization architecture across the laser source, laser head, and supporting subsystems
Sealing, ingress protection, and moisture/corrosion mitigation strategies (IP ratings, conformal coatings, gasket design)
Vibration isolation system design including isolator selection, snubbing, and modal analysis
Shock analysis and design including fragility assessment, cushion design, and drop/transportation survivability
FEA modeling including static, modal, random vibration, and shock response spectrum analysis
Structural validation including instrumentation, test rigs, and correlation to model
Trades between ruggedization performance, mass, stiffness, and packaging across the system