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Salary: USD 140,333 - 179,314 / annual
Varda Space Industries is building commercial space infrastructure, including in-orbit pharmaceutical processing systems and reentry capsules. The company designs, manufactures, and operates its W-Series vehicles end-to-end, including payloads, capsules, heat shields, and satellite buses.
As a Senior Mechanisms Engineer on the Payload team, you will own multi-payload missions from concept through design, integration, launch, reentry, and recovery. You will develop electromechanical flight hardware that operates in orbit, withstands hypersonic reentry, and returns to Earth for inspection and iteration.
Key responsibilities include:
- Own complete mission lifecycle for multi-payload programs across pharmaceutical manufacturing and hypersonic reentry testbed missions
- Lead design of mechanisms, structures, thermal/fluid interfaces, and electromechanical assemblies
- Independently perform structural, thermal, and fluid analyses using hand calculations, Python/MATLAB models, and FEA as needed
- Build, instrument, and test prototypes and flight hardware
- Coordinate cross-functional inputs from avionics, software, thermal, systems, and integration teams
- Serve as primary technical interface for complex payload development efforts
- Drive subsystem requirements, interface control documents (ICDs), verification plans, and technical documentation
- Lead mission operations and post-flight teardown analysis
- Drive incorporation of lessons learned and continuous improvement initiatives
- Mentor entry-level engineers and interns
You will work in a fast-paced environment delivering complex hardware on accelerated development cycles, collaborating closely with internal specialists and external partners. The role requires translating high-level mission objectives into detailed system designs and analyses, then executing hands-on integration and testing.
Varda is headquartered in El Segundo, CA with additional offices in Washington, DC and Huntsville, AL. The company was founded in 2021 by Will Bruey and Delian Asparouhov and is backed by leading investors including Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, and General Catalyst. The team includes veterans from SpaceX, Blue Origin, major pharmaceutical companies, and Silicon Valley.
QUALIFICATIONS:
Required:
- BS/BEng in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Mechatronics, or related field
- 4+ years of experience designing, integrating, testing, and troubleshooting electromechanical hardware
- Strong mechanical expertise with breadth in at least one adjacent discipline (avionics, software, thermal, optics, test, etc.)
- Experience delivering hardware into rigorous environments (aerospace, defense, medical, automotive, etc.)
- Ability to independently define tasks, manage schedules, and deliver integrated hardware
- Excellent cross-discipline communication skills
Preferred:
- Prior full cycle ownership of space flight hardware
- Experience integrating electromechanical actuators, sensors, thermal control hardware, and/or fluid control hardware
- Experience planning and executing aerospace environmental testing (vibration, TVAC, EMI/EMC)
- Customer-facing technical communication experience
- Active Secret or Top Secret clearance
Note: This role requires US person status (US citizen, US lawful permanent resident, or protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)) due to ITAR export control requirements.
