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Salary: USD 74,000 - 114,000 / annual
Cowboy Space Corp. is building orbital infrastructure to power and connect the space economy. Founded in 2024 by Baiju Bhatt (Robinhood co-founder) and backed by leading investors, the company operates satellites in Low Earth Orbit to collect sunlight and enable new capabilities—from powering on-orbit compute to transmitting energy via infrared lasers and delivering secure, high-bandwidth optical data.
As a Mechanisms Engineer, you will own a vehicle mechanism subsystem end-to-end, from concept through flight. Depending on background and team priorities, your assignment will focus on separation systems, landing gear, aero control surfaces, or electromechanical actuation. This is a hands-on role at the center of vehicle hardware development with real ownership from day one.
Key responsibilities include:
- 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
You will work closely with propulsion, structures, avionics, GNC, and launch operations to design integrated systems, build hardware, and validate through test. Expect to move quickly, iterate often, and be trusted with mechanisms that directly impact mission success.
Required qualifications: Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related field; 1+ years designing mechanisms or mechanical systems for flight vehicles or high-performance hardware (internships, co-ops, competition/research team experience count); experience seeing mechanical designs through to physical hardware; solid fundamentals in structural mechanics, kinematics, materials, and manufacturing; proficiency with CAD (NX, SolidWorks, CATIA, Creo) and ASME Y14.5 GD&T standards; working knowledge of FEA tools (ANSYS, Nastran, Abaqus). U.S. citizenship or permanent residency required due to ITAR export control regulations.
Preferred: 3+ years flight vehicle mechanism experience; exposure to separation systems, landing gear, aero control surfaces, or flight electromechanical actuators; hands-on prototyping and machining experience; familiarity with reusable vehicle design; experience at fast-moving hardware-focused startups; track record of picking up unfamiliar problems quickly.
