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Salary: USD 130,000 - 170,000 / annual
Fortastra designs and delivers resilient, high-performance spacecraft for critical orbital assets and national security space applications. The company integrates advanced autonomy, sensing, and control into systems engineered for reliability, speed, and scale.
You will join Fortastra's Engineering Division as a Senior Mechanical Engineer focused on battery and solar integration. In this role, you will own the mechanical design, packaging, and integration of power subsystems on spacecraft. You will be responsible for how batteries, solar arrays, and associated hardware are mechanically realized on the vehicle, including mounting, thermal and structural considerations, deployment interfaces, and harness routing.
Key responsibilities include:
- Design mechanical integration for spacecraft batteries, solar panels or arrays, and supporting structures and mechanisms
- Own CAD models for battery modules, solar panel assemblies, mounting brackets, deployment linkages, and related hardware
- Work with power and avionics engineers to define mechanical interfaces, connector placements, and harness routing strategies that minimize risk and simplify integration
- Account for thermal, structural, and vibration requirements in mechanical design of power subsystems, coordinating with thermal and structural analysts
- Generate and release detailed drawings, BOMs, and documentation for battery and solar mechanical hardware with disciplined revision control
- Support trades on panel and battery placement, packaging efficiency, access for integration and test, and maintainability
- Collaborate with manufacturing and integration teams to ensure designs are buildable, testable, and serviceable; support floor activities such as installation procedures and fit checks
- Identify and resolve mechanical issues related to cable routing, clearances, and interactions between power subsystems and other spacecraft hardware
Fortastra's culture emphasizes simplicity, accountability, and disciplined execution. The company values engineers who prioritize sound judgment, technical rigor, and bias for action. You will work in a lean, high-performing team where every contributor directly moves the needle on the mission. You own your systems end-to-end, from initial architecture and hardware design to testing and deployment, with absolute ownership and responsibility for mission-critical reliability.
QUALIFICATIONS & REQUIREMENTS:
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related technical field
- 5+ years of experience in mechanical design for spacecraft, robotics, automotive, energy storage, or other high-reliability systems
- Proficiency with 3D CAD tools (NX, Creo, SolidWorks, or equivalent), including part and assembly modeling
- Experience designing mounting hardware, enclosures, or structural components for electronic or power hardware such as batteries or power electronics
- Basic understanding of structural and thermal considerations for battery and solar integration, and willingness to work with specialists in those disciplines
- Experience creating engineering drawings, applying tolerances, and working within a revision-controlled environment
- Familiarity with mechanical design around cable routing, connectors, and minimizing mechanical-electrical interference is a plus
- Experience in domains such as spacecraft, EVs, robotics, or renewable energy systems is beneficial
- 5 days on-site in Torrance, CA required
- U.S. Citizenship required
