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Salary: USD 175,000 - 200,000 / annual
K2 Space is building the largest and highest-power satellites ever flown, backed by over $1 billion in total funding from leading investors including Altimeter Capital, ICONIQ, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures, and T. Rowe Price. The company has over $1 billion in signed contracts across commercial and US government customers and is mass-producing the highest-power satellite platforms ever built for missions from LEO to deep space. With multiple launches planned for 2027 and plans to scale to 100 satellites per year, K2 is at the forefront of the shift from mass-constrained to mass-abundant spacecraft design.
In this Principal role, you will own end-to-end manufacturing strategy for electro-mechanical subsystems from concept through production ramp. Partnering with design engineers early in the process, you will ensure manufacturability, build the first prototype, design the build flow and fixturing, and finalize the process for transition to production. You will test out new techniques for manufacturing large satellite structures, mechanisms, and integrated electronics systems.
In your first 6 months, you will own manufacturing development for integrated avionics systems; define production-ready build flows, capacity models, and tooling strategies; and drive cross-functional design-for-manufacturability (DFM) improvements that materially reduce risk, cost, or cycle time. In your first year, you will lead implementation of advanced manufacturing techniques on flight hardware and transition prototype processes into stable, rate-capable production systems.
Key responsibilities include:
- Own end-to-end manufacturing strategy for subsystems from concept through production ramp
- Lead DFM efforts with design engineering, influencing architecture decisions to optimize for cost, quality, scalability, and integration risk
- Architect scalable production flows for large spacecraft assemblies including electromechanical systems, harnessing, and mechanisms
- Develop and deploy advanced manufacturing technologies, automation concepts, and tooling systems to support increasing production rate
- Establish production readiness plans including control plans, work instructions, takt alignment, and line balancing
- Mentor and develop junior manufacturing engineers and technicians, raising the technical bar across the organization
- Lead first article builds and flight hardware integration, resolving complex cross-functional technical issues
- Develop capacity models and rate ramp strategies to support program growth
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives focused on cycle time reduction, yield improvement, and production robustness
REQUIREMENTS:
- Bachelor's degree in electrical, mechanical, aerospace, or other relevant engineering discipline
- 10+ years of experience in a high volume, rapid production environment in aerospace, defense, automotive, or similar high-reliability manufacturing sector
- Demonstrated expertise in manufacturing process development, DFM, and production ramp for complex electro-mechanical assemblies
- Strong experience with advanced manufacturing technologies, automation, and tooling design
- Proven track record leading cross-functional teams and mentoring junior engineers
- Experience with production readiness planning, control plans, and quality systems
- Knowledge of aerospace/defense manufacturing standards and practices
- ITAR compliance: Must be a U.S. Person as defined by 22 C.F.R. § 120.15 (U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or certain protected individual) or otherwise eligible for a federally issued export control license
