Mechanisms Engineer II - Payloads
About The Position
As a Mechanisms Engineer II on Varda’s Payload team, you will develop electromechanical flight hardware that operates in orbit, endures hypersonic reentry, and returns to Earth for inspection and iteration. You will take full-stack responsibility for payloads across pharmaceutical manufacturing and hypersonic reentry testbed missions, delivering flight hardware from concept through build, test, launch, and recovery. You will collaborate with internal specialists and external partners, translate engineering requirements into flight-ready designs, and perform hands-on integration and testing. The role offers the opportunity to broaden your expertise across thermal, fluids, avionics, software, and integration while delivering hardware for spaceflight.
Requirements
- BS/BEng in Mechanical, Aerospace, Mechatronics, or a related engineering discipline.
- At least 2 years of design and analysis experience working on complex electromechanical hardware or comparable mechanisms.
- Strong fundamentals in structures, heat transfer, fluids, and dynamics.
- Hands-on experience designing, integrating, testing, and troubleshooting electromechanical hardware.
- Ability to communicate effectively across disciplines.
Nice To Haves
- Experience integrating electromechanical actuators, sensors, thermal control hardware, and/or fluid control hardware.
- Experience using CAD, preferably NX, and FEA tools such as Ansys or Nastran.
- Exposure to aerospace environmental testing, including vibration, TVAC, and EMI/EMC.
- Customer-facing technical communication experience.
- Ability to obtain a government security clearance.
Responsibilities
- Own payload hardware from concept through design, integration, launch, reentry, and recovery.
- Design mechanisms, structures, thermal/fluid interfaces, and electromechanical assemblies.
- Run structural, thermal, and fluid analyses using hand calculations, simplified models, and FEA as needed.
- Build, instrument, and test prototypes and flight hardware.
- Work across avionics, software, thermal, systems, and integration teams to define interfaces and ensure compatibility.
- Serve as the primary technical point of contact for assigned payloads.
- Generate requirements, interface control documents (ICDs), procedures, and test reports.
- Support mission operations and post-flight teardown.
- Contribute to lessons learned and continuous improvement.
Benefits
- Eligible for incentives in the form of stock options and/or long-term cash awards.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
