Mechanism Engineer Level 1
Cowboy Space Corporation· Launch & Propulsion Engineering
Kent, Washington$74k - $114kFull-timePosted 2mo ago
About the role
Mechanism Engineer responsible for owning a vehicle mechanism subsystem from concept through flight, with potential focus areas including separation systems, landing gear, aero control surfaces, or electromechanical actuation. Hands-on role emphasizing rapid iteration, cross-functional collaboration, and direct impact on mission success.
Responsibilities
- Own your mechanism subsystem from concept through design, analysis, test, and flight.
- Drive structural and kinematic design for minimum mass while meeting strength, stiffness, fatigue, and operational-life requirements across ascent, entry, landing, and reuse environments.
- Balance performance, manufacturability, cost, and schedule in every design decision
- Perform analysis — hand calculations, FEA, tolerance stack-ups — and validate predictions with test and flight data.
- Define and execute qualification and acceptance test campaigns; author procedures, acceptance criteria, and anomaly dispositions.
- Develop and maintain engineering drawings, models, and release documentation.
- Work directly on the factory floor with manufacturing to iterate quickly and resolve build issues in real time.
- Troubleshoot hardware anomalies, perform root cause analysis, and implement design improvements.
- Support launch operations, post-flight inspection, and refurbishment planning.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field.
- 1+ years of experience designing mechanisms or mechanical systems for flight vehicles or high-performance hardware. Internships, co-ops, and competition or research team experience count.
- Experience seeing a mechanical design through to physical hardware — built, assembled, and tested.
- Solid fundamentals in structural mechanics, kinematics, materials, and manufacturing processes.
- Proficiency with CAD (NX, SolidWorks, CATIA, or Creo) and experience creating engineering drawings to ASME Y14.5 GD&T standards.
- Working knowledge of FEA tools (ANSYS, Nastran, or Abaqus) applied to structural or mechanism problems.
- Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.
Skills
Required:Mechanism designStructural analysis
Benefits
- Equity in Cowboy Space Corp.
- Medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and eligible dependents
- 401(k) retirement savings plan
- Paid time off
- 10 paid holidays per calendar year
- Paid parental leave
- Relocation assistance if applicable
- Daily lunch in the office and a fully stocked kitchen with beverages and snacks
Last updated Sep 20, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.
About Cowboy Space Corporation
Powering Humanity From the High Frontier
Cowboy Space Corp. is building a power grid in outer space for artificial intelligence. It is an integrated system of satellites and rockets to haul high-performance compute and optical data transmission down from Low Earth Orbit. Earth's energy grid can't run at the pace of AI. We can.
Orbital Data CentersAI compute in spacesolar-powered data centersLow Earth Orbitpower grid in space
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