Senior Mechanical Engineer

GITAI • Los Angeles, CA

12h • $155,000 - $200,000 • Onsite

About The Position

As a Senior Mechanical Engineer at GITAI, you will lead mechanical design at the project level, from early system architecture through detailed design, manufacturing, integration, testing, and redesign. Your responsibility extends beyond an individual component or subsystem. You will understand the system as a whole, make the mechanical design decisions needed to move the project forward, and stay hands-on in CAD, early hardware builds, integration, and testing. This role requires strong technical judgment. Requirements will often be incomplete, several approaches may appear viable, and test data may be limited. You will identify the critical constraints, make clear tradeoffs, choose a direction, and accelerate the design-build-test loop.
This is a senior individual-contributor role. You will provide technical direction and review the work of other engineers while continuing to build and test hardware yourself. Prior space or defense experience is not required. We value engineers who learn unfamiliar technical domains quickly, approach new problems with an open mind, and apply strong engineering judgment developed in other industries to space and defense missions.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a closely related engineering field.
• 7+ years of hands-on mechanical engineering experience developing complex hardware.
• Strong technical judgment and a track record of making sound design decisions with incomplete information.
• Deep experience personally taking hardware from concept through design, fabrication, assembly, test, and iteration.
• Strong fundamentals in mechanical design, GD&T, materials, manufacturing processes, structural analysis, and system-level tradeoffs.
• Must be a U.S. citizen, as this role may require access to classified projects and eligibility to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Lead mechanical design across projects, from early architecture and trade studies through detailed design, build, and test.
• Make critical technical decisions under ambiguous requirements, balancing performance, manufacturability, reliability, schedule, and cost.
• Stay deeply hands-on. Design hardware yourself, support early fabrication and assembly, run tests, diagnose failures, and iterate quickly.
• Accelerate the design-build-test loop by finding the shortest path to real hardware and useful test data.
• Lead design reviews and raise the technical bar for mechanical engineering across the team.

Benefits

• Health Insurance – Platinum medical plan with 100% company-paid medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees; 90% for dependents
• 401(k) Plan – Company match up to 3.5%, with traditional and Roth options
• Equity – Stock option eligibility depending on role
• Relocation Support – Available for qualifying positions
• Time Off – 12 paid holidays per year, 12 days of paid vacation per year, and paid sick leave (in accordance with applicable law)
• Office Perks – Free snacks and drinks, plus regular team events

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior