The Role
Lead mechanical engineer for spacecraft missions responsible for structural and thermal analysis, detailed CAD and drawings, test planning and oversight, AIT support, supplier/customer mechanical interface, and requirements/specifications ownership to ensure mission success.
Summary Generated by Built In
Wanna join the adventure?
Are you passionate about spacecraft design and analysis? If so, this is the perfect role for you! Loft flies multiple satellites per year and is looking for a lead Mechanical Engineer to serve as a subject matter expert within the mission and product team, supporting the larger company. This role requires a well-rounded mechanical engineer to support Loft's end to end missions and product development, with an expertise on structural analysis and test. You will be responsible for supporting "all things mechanical" for Loft missions, their customers, and their subcontractors.
About the Role:
- Mechanical Lead for select Loft Missions
- Develop, maintain, and own mechanical analysis budgets
- Create and maintain detailed engineering drawings and 3D models using CAD software.
- Conduct inspections and reviews of engineering documents and hardware.
- Perform structural and thermal analysis of small payload components and spacecraft
- Oversight of spacecraft level structural and thermal analysis
- Develop, in collaboration with team members/customers, interface specifications, control documents and other design documents
- Generate test plans and procedures for structural and thermal verification activities
- Review and approve test environmental test reports
- Support the Assembly, Integration and Testing (AIT) of all stages of a space mission, including identification and procurement of appropriate MGSE.
- Work with suppliers, customers, and sub-contractors as mechanical point of contact to ensure successful mission execution.
- Define and document requirements, specifications, and interfaces.
- Work with a multi-disciplinary team to ensure successful mission execution
Must Haves:
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or Aerospace Engineering.
- 5+ years of experience in spacecraft subsystems, payloads, and vehicle mechanical design and structural analysis.
- Detailed understanding of GD&T and tolerance analysis.
- Proficiency with Solidworks or similar CAD software
- Pragmatic vibration testing experience (pre-test inputs, test oversight, data reduction, report generation).
- Spacecraft level FEA experience. Expert level knowledge of at least one solver and pre/post processor package and cursory knowledge of others (Femap, Patran, Nastran, ANSYS, etc).
- Concise analysis and test report generation
- Experience in small satellite assembly, integration, and test campaigns with an emphasis on vibration and thermal testing
- Ability to adapt to changing requirements and work in a fast-paced environment.
- Excellent problem-solving and analytical skills.
- Strong attention to detail and accuracy
- Experience delivering a spacecraft to standards such as ECSS and NASA GEVS
- Proficiency with Solidworks or similar CAD software
- Prepared to be challenged and sometimes work out of your comfort zone
- Able to be accountable, autonomous, and take full ownership of projects
Nice to Haves:
- Ability to perform Craig Bampton (CB) model reduction for launch authorities.
- Experience with thermal/structural combined analysis modeling.
- Practical experience in assembly and integration of satellite hardware.
- Experience working in a customer facing role.
- Proven experience in optical payloads integration.
- Understanding of force-limited vibration and transfer functions
- End-to-end satellite mission experience
Some of our Awesome Benefits:
- Equity, we want you to have an active role in our success
- Up to 35 days of Paid Time Off (vacations & RTT ) and flexible working hours, we want you to be at your best
- Health and life insurance, we care about your health
- Lunch Vouchers, because let’s be honest, we love food! (we even have a slack channel about it #loft-gourmand)
- Cross-office travel opportunities between San Francisco, Colorado, and Toulouse to learn from our differences
- Company and team off-sites and many other events to work & celebrate together
- Relocation assistance to Toulouse when applicable
*Research shows that while men apply to jobs where they meet an average of 60% of the criteria, women and other underrepresented people tend to only apply when they meet 100% of the qualifications. At Loft, we value respectful debate and people who aren’t afraid to challenge assumptions. We strongly encourage you to apply, even if you don’t check all the boxes.
Who We Are
Loft: Space Made Simple.
Founded in 2017, Loft provides governments, companies, and research institutions with a fast, reliable, and simple way to deploy missions in orbit.
We integrate, launch, and operate spacecraft, offering end-to-end missions as a service across Earth observation, IoT connectivity, on-orbit AI, national security missions, and more. Leveraging our existing space infrastructure and an extensive inventory of satellite buses, Loft is reducing years-long integration and launch timelines to months. With more than 30 missions flown, Loft’s flight heritage and proven technologies enable customers to focus on their mission objectives.
With a growing fleet on track to reach 30 satellites by 2027, we are scaling up quickly across our offices in San Francisco, CA | Golden, CO | and Toulouse, France to meet accelerating demand for space infrastructure.
As an international company your resume will be reviewed by people across our offices so please attach a copy in English.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or Aerospace Engineering.
- 5+ years experience in spacecraft subsystems, payloads, and vehicle mechanical design and structural analysis.
- Detailed understanding of GD&T and tolerance analysis.
- Proficiency with SolidWorks or similar CAD software.
- Pragmatic vibration testing experience (pre-test inputs, test oversight, data reduction, report generation).
- Spacecraft-level FEA experience and expert knowledge of at least one solver/pre-post package (e.g., Nastran, ANSYS, Patran, Femap).
- Concise analysis and test report generation skills.
- Experience in small satellite assembly, integration, and test campaigns with emphasis on vibration and thermal testing.
- Experience delivering spacecraft to standards such as ECSS and NASA GEVS.
- Ability to adapt to changing requirements and work in a fast-paced environment.
- Excellent problem-solving and analytical skills.
- Strong attention to detail and accuracy.
- Ability to be accountable, autonomous, and take full ownership of projects.
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The Company
What We Do
Space Made Simple. We are a true end-to-end service provider letting our customers rapidly deploy and operate their payloads on reliable high-performance satellites at an unprecedented simplicity and affordability.
