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Salary: USD 150,000 - 180,000 / annual
Cowboy Space Corporation is building space-based solar energy infrastructure to solve the global energy crisis. The company designs modular, scalable satellites that collect sunlight in Low Earth Orbit for multiple integrated applications: transmitting energy via infrared lasers (space-to-earth and space-to-space), powering on-orbit high-performance computing clusters, and providing secure optical data transport. Founded in 2024 by Baiju Bhatt (co-founder of Robinhood), the company has raised approximately $365 million from top-tier investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, and Breakthrough Energy Ventures. The team includes veterans from SpaceX, Blue Origin, Stoke Space, Astranis, and NASA.
As a Senior Mechanisms Engineer, you will own a critical spacecraft mechanism subsystem from concept through flight. Depending on your background and team priorities, your assignment will focus on hold-down and release mechanisms (HDRMs), solar array deployment and drive systems, deployable structures (antennas, booms, radiators), or thermal/radiator articulation mechanisms. This is a hands-on role at the center of spacecraft hardware development.
Key responsibilities include:
- Owning your mechanism subsystem from concept through design, analysis, test, and flight
- Driving structural and kinematic design for minimum mass while meeting strength, stiffness, fatigue, and operational-life requirements across launch, on-orbit deployment, and mission-life environments
- Balancing performance, manufacturability, cost, and schedule in every design decision
- Performing analysis (hand calculations, FEA, tolerance stack-ups, deployment dynamics) and validating predictions with test and on-orbit data
- Defining and executing qualification and acceptance test campaigns, including vibration, thermal vacuum, deployment, and life testing; authoring procedures, acceptance criteria, and anomaly dispositions
- Developing and maintaining engineering drawings, models, and release documentation
- Working directly on the factory floor with manufacturing and integration & test teams to iterate quickly and resolve build issues in real time
- Troubleshooting hardware anomalies, performing root cause analysis, and implementing design improvements
- Supporting spacecraft integration & test, launch site operations, and on-orbit commissioning/anomaly response
You will work closely with structures, thermal, power, avionics, and mission operations teams to design integrated systems, build hardware, and validate through test. This is a fast-paced environment where you'll be expected to move quickly, iterate often, and take full ownership of mechanisms that directly impact mission success.
REQUIREMENTS:
Basic Qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related field
- 5+ years of experience designing mechanisms or mechanical systems for spacecraft, launch vehicles, or high-performance hardware
- Experience taking hardware from concept through build, integration, and test
- Strong fundamentals in structural mechanics, kinematics, materials, and manufacturing processes
- Proficiency with CAD (NX, SolidWorks, CATIA, or Creo) and creating engineering drawings to ASME Y14.5 GD&T standards
- Proficiency with FEA tools (ANSYS, Nastran, or Abaqus) for mechanism load-path and dynamic 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
Preferred Qualifications:
- 10+ years of experience designing mechanisms or mechanical systems for spacecraft or high-performance flight hardware
- Direct experience with hold-down and release mechanisms (HDRMs), solar array deployment systems, or other spacecraft deployables
- Experience with pyrotechnic, non-explosive actuator (NEA), or other low-shock release devices
- Hands-on prototyping and machining experience
- Familiarity with spacecraft thermal environments and their effect on mechanism performance
- Experience at a fast-moving, hardware-focused startup or early-stage spacecraft program
