The Role
Translate engineering CAD into production-quality Class A surfaces and photorealistic visual assets. Create renders, composite imagery, and reusable assets for marketing while collaborating closely with industrial design, engineering, and marketing teams to ensure visual accuracy and brand alignment.
Summary Generated by Built In
Astrolab is The Lunar Operations Company. We design and build the systems and hardware the lunar economy will come to depend on — rovers, power, and data networks for sustained operations on the Moon. We are focused on the problems that must be solved before the next chapter of human exploration can scale. The Moon does not forgive untested assumptions. The people who work here know that, and they wouldn't have it any other way.
As a CAD Modeler & Visualization Specialist at Astrolab, you will be the technical execution engine of our design and marketing efforts. At Astrolab, our design function operates within a studio model embedded inside the Marketing organization. We believe that design sits at the intersection of engineering and brand; it is the visual language that translates our technical DNA into a consistent identity that defines a market. You will work day-to-day with our Fractional Chief Creative Director (a world-class automotive ID designer) and our Head of Marketing, taking raw engineering geometry and transforming it into beautiful, accurate, and compelling visual assets.
As a CAD Modeler & Visualization Specialist at Astrolab, you will be the technical execution engine of our design and marketing efforts. At Astrolab, our design function operates within a studio model embedded inside the Marketing organization. We believe that design sits at the intersection of engineering and brand; it is the visual language that translates our technical DNA into a consistent identity that defines a market. You will work day-to-day with our Fractional Chief Creative Director (a world-class automotive ID designer) and our Head of Marketing, taking raw engineering geometry and transforming it into beautiful, accurate, and compelling visual assets.
In this role, you will serve both the design team and the marketing organization. Your output—from Class A surfacing to photorealistic KeyShot renders—will be the primary way the world sees our rovers before they launch. You will bridge the gap between complex aerospace engineering and high-impact brand communication.
What you'll do:
Modeling & Surfacing
- Class A Modeling: Utilize Alias to create high-quality, production-ready surfaces from initial design concepts and engineering data
- Geometry Translation: Take complex, constraint-heavy CAD data from the engineering team and optimize it for visualization and design iteration
- Form Refinement: Work closely with the Industrial Designer and Chief Creative Director to refine the physical forms of our hardware, ensuring they meet both aesthetic and structural requirements
Visualization & Rendering
- Photorealistic Rendering: Produce stunning, high-fidelity renders using KeyShot, translating technical CAD into marketing-ready imagery
- Asset Creation: Build a library of visual assets for use across investor decks, social media, press releases, and the Astrolab website
- Compositing: Use Adobe Creative Suite to composite renders into lunar environments, ensuring lighting, scale, and context are hyper-realistic and scientifically accurate
Cross-Functional Execution
- Engineering Liaison: Maintain a tight feedback loop with the engineering team to ensure that visualizations accurately reflect the current state of the vehicle's design and capabilities
- Marketing Support: Deliver visual assets at the speed of a modern marketing organization, supporting campaign launches, milestone announcements, and brand initiatives
What you'll bring:
Basic Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in industrial design, transportation design, digital arts, or a related field, or equivalent combination of education and professional experience
- Experience using KeyShot for photorealistic rendering and lighting setup
- Experience using Alias for Class A surfacing and complex geometry
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience using Adobe Creative Suite, including Photoshop and Illustrator, for compositing and post-production
- Experience in transportation, robotics, automotive, aerospace, or a related industry
- Experience working in a studio environment or with marketing and communications teams
- Experience working with engineering constraints and CAD files generated in SolidWorks or CATIA
- Experience with lighting, material textures, Color, Materials, and Finish (CMF), and environmental rendering
- Experience managing multiple rendering projects and delivering assets within established deadlines
Benefits and Perks
- Join a team of best-in-class engineers building the foundation of planetary surface exploration
- Equity ownership in the company
- Comprehensive health benefits, including medical, dental, vision, and mental health support
- 401(k) plan with company match
- Flexible PTO and parental leave
- Home office set up reimbursement
- Weekly lunch stipend, plus complimentary snacks and beverages on-site
- Once a month social hour on-site with food and drinks
About
Having a strong, inclusive, and inspired team is essential to accomplishing our bold mission. Employees are our biggest asset, and we are deeply committed to them and our values. At Astrolab we…Demonstrate and inspire trust. Interactions are direct, honest, and respectful. We are fair and transparent with what we do and why.Thrive in balance. Balance gives us perspective and keeps us motivated and inspired. We commit to rewarding work and a fulfilling personal life. Seek diverse perspectives. We ask questions, engage in productive debate and offer alternatives to ensure our solutions and products are robust and a reflection of our collective best.Move with purpose. Quality and reliability are accomplished through efficient ideation and iteration. We act with a sense of urgency and deliver what we promise, always with the big picture in mind.Make an impact. We intentionally move our community and industry into the future through our work, practices, and actions.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in industrial design, transportation design, digital arts, or related field (or equivalent experience)
- Experience using KeyShot for photorealistic rendering and lighting setup
- Experience using Alias for Class A surfacing and complex geometry
- Experience with Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator) for compositing and post-production
- Experience in transportation, robotics, automotive, aerospace, or related industry
- Experience working with engineering constraints and CAD files from SolidWorks or CATIA
- Experience with lighting, material textures, Color, Materials, and Finish (CMF), and environmental rendering
- Ability to manage multiple rendering projects and deliver assets to marketing deadlines
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The Company
What We Do
Astrolab designs and develops robotic mobility systems for planetary exploration, deploying surface mobility and infrastructure to enable sustained human and commercial operations on the Moon and Mars.
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