Mechanical Engineer IINewPlaya Vista, California, United States

Mechanical Engineer II

Turning Space into a Transportation Layer for Earth

Who We Are:

Eras of humanity can often be defined by a dominant transportation mode - horse-drawn chariots, ocean-going boats, or aircraft. These were spurred by a small group of people rigorously focused on building technology to achieve faster access to more of the world. We seek to usher in a new era of humanity defined by universal access to the whole globe free of borders and the presence of a routine way from space to Earth. To do this, we are building highly maneuverable re-entry vehicles that can loiter in orbit before precision landing back on Earth.

What You'll Do:

As a Mechanical Engineer at Inversion, you will play a critical role in the design, functionality, and performance of our next-generation reentry vehicles. This is a unique opportunity to work on the early stages of vehicle design, including defining vehicle architecture and creatively solving new design challenges. You will be a key member of the Avionics Team, reporting directly to the Director of Engineering, Avionics. In this role, you will:

• Lead mechanical design efforts for the avionics team and partner with cross-domain stakeholders to design and deliver mechanical systems critical to avionics success.
• Design mechanical systems that interface directly with avionics subsystems and components for our next-generation reentry vehicle.
• Develop tooling and test equipment enabling critical functions, including environmental test, vehicle integration, and vehicle test.
• Qualify designs through environmental testing, including vibration, shock, load, and thermal testing.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, a related field, or equivalent experience.
• Typically 3+ years of applicable hands-on experience developing mechanical systems and mechanisms.
• Strong practical mechanical design skills related to mechanisms, packaging, high load environments, and user interfaces.
• High familiarity with CAD software, such as Siemens NX.
• Familiarity with FEA software packages such as ANSYS Mechanical, NASTRAN, FEMAP or similar with an emphasis on modal and static structural analysis.
• Experience producing engineering drawings and applying standard dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) per ASME Y14.5.
• Demonstrated excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Capable of working in a dynamic, fast-paced startup environment.
• This position is on-site at Inversion HQ in Playa Vista, CA.

Desired Qualifications:

• Master's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, a related field, or equivalent experience.
• Hands-on vehicle integration experience of mechanisms including avionics, harnessing, bracketry, and related components.
• Demonstrated history of mechanical design product ownership from cradle to grave.
• Experience with vehicle-level flight test campaigns and hardware/avionics qualification.
• Prior experience in design and test of qualified space-flight hardware.

Our office headquarters is located in Playa Vista, CA. This position requires in office presence.

The California annual base salary for this role is currently $109,000 -$128,000 USD. Pay Grades are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual pay will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: interviews and an assessment of several factors that are unique to each candidate, job-related skills, relevant education and experience, certifications, abilities of the candidate and internal equity.

ITAR Compliance: To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.

Equal Employment Opportunity: Inversion provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, veteran status, or disability.