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Salary: USD 150,000 - 180,000 / annual
Cowboy Space Corp., founded in 2024 by Baiju Bhatt (Robinhood co-founder) and backed by leading investors, is building orbital infrastructure to power and connect the space economy. The company operates satellites in Low Earth Orbit for energy collection, on-orbit compute, and secure optical data transmission via infrared lasers.
As a Mechanisms Engineer, you will own a critical vehicle mechanism subsystem—such as separation systems, landing gear, aero control surfaces, or electromechanical actuation—from concept through flight. This is a hands-on role at the center of hardware development, requiring close collaboration with propulsion, structures, avionics, guidance/navigation/control (GNC), and launch operations teams.
Key responsibilities include:
- Owning your mechanism subsystem across concept, design, analysis, test, and flight phases
- Driving structural and kinematic design for minimum mass while meeting strength, stiffness, fatigue, and operational-life requirements across ascent, entry, landing, and reuse environments
- Balancing performance, manufacturability, cost, and schedule in design decisions
- Performing analysis (hand calculations, FEA, tolerance stack-ups) and validating predictions with test and flight data
- Defining and executing qualification and acceptance test campaigns; authoring procedures, acceptance criteria, and anomaly dispositions
- Developing and maintaining engineering drawings, models, and release documentation
- Working directly on the factory floor with manufacturing to iterate quickly and resolve build issues in real time
- Troubleshooting hardware anomalies, performing root cause analysis, and implementing design improvements
- Supporting launch operations, post-flight inspection, and refurbishment planning
Required qualifications: Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, or related engineering discipline; 5+ years designing mechanisms or mechanical systems for flight vehicles or high-performance hardware; experience taking hardware from concept through build, integration, and test; strong fundamentals in structural mechanics, kinematics, materials, and manufacturing; proficiency with CAD (NX, SolidWorks, CATIA, Creo) and ASME Y14.5 GD&T standards; proficiency with FEA tools (ANSYS, Nastran, Abaqus); U.S. citizenship or permanent residency required (ITAR compliance).
Preferred: 10+ years of mechanisms/mechanical systems experience; direct experience with separation systems, landing gear, aero control surfaces, or flight electromechanical actuators; pyrotechnic or low-shock separation device experience; hands-on prototyping and machining; reusable vehicle design familiarity; experience at fast-moving hardware-focused startups.
