Mechanical Engineer

Mechanical Engineer 

Location: Playa Vista, California (in-person, five days per week) 

Launch has changed the economics of space. Now it is time to return. Outpost is building the missing infrastructure between orbit and Earth: reusable vehicles that bring payloads back from space and deliver them to a precise location within hours, exologistics at planetary scale. Core technologies are advancing toward flight readiness, and we've validated demand through multiple defense and civil agreements with a growing commercial pipeline. We're scaling rapidly, this is the point where execution and scale define the outcome. 

The Role 

Outpost's vehicles are unlike anything in the market - reusable, fabric-shielded, paraglider-guided Earth-return spacecraft. We're looking for a Mechanical Engineer to join our Structures and Mechanism team who will design and build the test and qualification process for spacecraft components and vehicles - from concept through execution and data analysis. This is a deep mechanical role with elements of instrumentation and data acquisition, and strong ownership over how our hardware earns its right to fly. 

This role spans the full engineering lifecycle - design, analysis, drawing release, build support, and test. You'll work alongside an integrated team and have meaningful ownership of your hardware from day one.   

Responsibilities 

• Design, model, and fabricate mechanical components and test fixtures for spacecraft assemblies, including heat shield, payload containment, parachute and paraglider systems, and primary and secondary structures.
• Select materials, fasteners, and mechanical interfaces that satisfy flight boundary conditions.
• Produce engineering drawings and documentation for in-house build or vendor fabrication.
• Iterate designs rapidly based on test outcomes and anomalies, build, test, learn, improve.
• Set up and execute test, including apply instrumentation (load cells, strain gauges, displacement sensors, thermocouples, pressure transducers), and verifying boundary conditions prior to every test run.
• Troubleshoot mechanical test anomalies hands-on: trace failures to root cause, propose corrective actions, and retest to closure.
• Participate in peer reviews and formal milestone reviews (CDR, TRR, etc.).

Qualifications 

• Bachelor’s or higher degree in Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, or a related field.
• 2-5+ years of hands-on experience designing flight hardware structures and mechanisms.
• Experience in hardware test development.
• Familiarity with spacecraft or launch vehicle components, or other space/aviation hardware where qualification and reliability are critical.
• Proficiency in 3D CAD (Siemens NX, CATIA, SolidWorks or similar) and GD&T.
• Experience taking hardware from design to build to test in an aerospace or space environment.
• Ability to read and understand mechanical drawings, GD&T.
• Strong documentation habits and familiarity with following structured standards and guidelines. 
• Familiarity with NASA test and qualification standards (GEVS / NASA-STD-7002, SMC-S-016) and ASME Y14.5 drawing conventions at a functional level. 

Preferred Experience 

• Active U.S. Government Security Clearance (not required, but beneficial).

• Experience with data acquisition and analysis using at least one of: LabVIEW, Python, MATLAB, or similar tools. 

• Experience with deployable space structures and mechanisms (booms, solar arrays, antennas, or aerobrakes). 

Compensation & Benefits

• $100,000 – $140,000, Salary may vary with experience
• Incentive Equity
• Annual Performance-Based Bonus
• Medical, Dental and Vision Insurance
• Short- and Long-Term Disability Insurance
• Life Insurance
• PTO
• 401k with Company match
• Subsidized daily catered lunch, snacks and coffee 

You must be a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 22 C.F.R. § 120.15 ,or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.