Senior Spacecraft Mechanisms Engineer

Star Catcher•Jacksonville, FL

About The Position

Star Catcher Industries, Inc., based in Jacksonville, Florida, is hiring a Senior Spacecraft Mechanisms Engineer to support the development of space-to-space power-beaming spacecraft and the Star Catcher Network, an orbital power grid. Star Catcher is developing technology to wirelessly beam energy to spacecraft using their existing solar panels. The engineer will serve as a subject matter expert across the spacecraft mechanism development lifecycle, from architecture and actuator and drivetrain selection through analysis, testing, qualification, and flight. The role provides technical leadership for mechanism design and verification, coordinates across engineering and manufacturing disciplines, produces technical documentation, and mentors engineers and technicians.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, or a related engineering field.
At least 10 years of experience designing and qualifying spacecraft mechanisms.
Demonstrated leadership in space-systems development, including ownership of a mechanism from concept through qualification and flight.
Experience sizing and selecting precision actuators and drivetrains, including stepper or brushless DC motors, harmonic drives, gearheads, and encoders.
Experience selecting vacuum-compatible bearings and lubricants and addressing tribology, cold welding, and outgassing in flight mechanism design.
Experience with hold-down and release devices, including non-explosive actuators or pyrotechnic devices, and their qualification and shock environments.
Proficiency producing CAD models and drawings with GD&T using Autodesk Inventor or equivalent.
Experience performing spacecraft-mechanism torque and force margin analysis per NASA-STD-5017 or an equivalent standard.
Creative problem-solving skills and the ability to develop solutions to advanced engineering challenges.

Nice To Haves

Master's or PhD degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering, or a related field.
Experience with deployable structures such as booms, reflectors, or solar arrays, and gravity-offload techniques used to test them.
Multibody-dynamics or kinematic simulation of deployment events using Adams, Inventor Dynamic Simulation, or equivalent.
Experience with pointing or gimbal mechanisms and their interaction with attitude control and pointing jitter.
Familiarity with regulations and standards relevant to space missions and operations.
Ability to communicate and work effectively in a multidisciplinary team while prioritizing tasks, multiple projects, and personnel.
Ability to identify spacecraft-mechanism risks and help develop mitigations, draft requirements changes, or document waiver requests.

Responsibilities

Own the spacecraft mechanism architecture, including hinges, booms, dampers, latches, and synchronization hardware.
Define requirements for hold-down and release mechanisms, including release-device selection, preload sizing, and separation-shock allocation.
Lead pointing-gimbal design and establish actuation, range, accuracy, and resolution requirements.
Establish torque and force margin practices for worst-case friction, thermal, and end-of-life conditions, and approve margins for flight.
Direct deployment kinematics and multibody-dynamics analysis to verify sequencing, rates, latch-up, and induced spacecraft loads.
Define material, bearing, and lubricant selection for vacuum compatibility, and establish handling, cleanliness, and outgassing controls.
Own mechanism development, qualification, and life-test campaigns in ambient and thermal-vacuum conditions.
Support fault detection, isolation, and recovery (FDIR) analysis and implementation for mechanism components.
Support systems engineering in writing detailed requirements for mechanism functionality and verification methods.
Serve as the technical focal point for mechanisms across mechanical design, structures, opto-mechanical, avionics, and manufacturing.
Create technical documentation for proposals, design reviews, and test reports to support program deliverables and new-program pursuits.
Mentor engineers and technicians, and establish standards for mechanism design, analysis, documentation, and review practices.